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JOHN M. KELLY LIBRARY

Donated by

The Redemptorists of
the Toronto Province

from the Library Collection of
Holy Redeemer College, Windsor

University of
St. Michael's College, Toronto

HOLY t

THE FOUR LAST THINGS.

BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

Illustrated Life of Christ. With fine half-
tone Illustrations. 12010, cloth, . . . $1.25

Explanation of the Holy Sacrifice of the
Mass. Preface by Right Rev. C. P. Maes,
D.D. i2mo, cloth, ........ $1-25

BENZIGER BROTHERS,
NEW YORK, CINCINNATI, CHICAGO.

THE FOUR LAST THINGS

DEATH.
JUDGMENT.

HELL.
HEAVEN.

FATHER MARTIN VON COCHEM, O.S.F.C.

" Remember thy list end, and thou shalt never sin.'

NEW YORK, CINCINNATI, CHICAG£»

BENZIGER BROTHERS

FR1NTERS TO THE '" PUBLISHERS OF

HOLY APOSTOLIC S£« 1 BENZIGER*S MAGAZIM1

HOLY REDEEMER U8RARY,

•ftibtl ©bstat.

THOMAS L. KINKEAD,

Censor Librorum.

fmprimatut :

41 MICHAEL AUGUSTINE,

Archbishop of New York.

NEW YORK, October 5, 1899.

Copyright, 1899, by Benziger Brothers.

CONTENTS.

PART I.— ON DEATH.

CHAP. PAGB

I. On the Terrors of Death 7

II. On the Assaults of Satan at the Hour of Death. . 14

III. On the Apparition of the Spirits of Darkness 19

IV. On the Fear of Hell 22

V. On the Judgment 25

PART II.— THE LAST JUDGMENT.
I. On the Signs that shall Precede the Last Judgment. 33

II. On the Resurrection of the Dead 40

IIIr On the Manner in which the Good and the Wicked

will be Conducted to the Place of Judgment. ... 49
IV. How all Men will Await Christ's Coming in the

Vale of Josaphat 54

V. On the Appearance of Christ's Cross in the

Heavens 58

VI. On the Advent of the Judge 63

VII. On the Manner in which Christ will take His Place

on the Judgment-seat 70

VIII. On the Reason why Christ's Appearance on the
Day of Final Judgment will be Terrible, and on
the Heinousness of Mortal Sin 79

5

Contents.

CHAP.

IX. On the Manner in which the Final Judgment will

be Commenced ............................. 86

X. On the Length of Time that the Final Judgment

will Last .................................... 91

XI. On the Publication of the Sentence Passed upon

the Good and the Bad ........................ 96

XII. How the Damned will ask in Vain for Mercy, and

will be cast down into Hell ................... 103

XIII. How the Blessed will go up into Heaven after the

Judgment .................................... 108

PART III.— ON HELL.

I. On the Fire of Hell ............................ 115

II. On the Hunger and Thirst Suffered in Hell ...... 123

III. On the Vile Odors of Hell ...................... 129

IV. Some Other Torments of Hell .................. 132

V. On the Company of Hell ....................... 141

VI. On the Loss of the Beatific Vision of God ........ 153

VII. The Worm that Dieth Not ..................... 162

VIII. On Eternity .......................... . ........ 168

PART IV.— ON HEAVED.
I. On the Nature of Heaven ....................... 179

II. On the Joys of Heaven ......................... 190

III. On the Joys of Heaven (Continued) ............. 202

IV. On the Number of the Saved. . ... 21 1

THE FOUR LAST THINGS.

PART I.

ON DEATH.
CHAPTER I.

ON THE TERRORS OF DEATH.

IT appears to me unnecessary to say much about
the terrors of death. The subject has been suffi
ciently enlarged upon by various writers ; besides,
every one knows and feels for himself that life is
sweet and death is bitter. However old a man may
be, however broken in health, however miserable his
circumstances, the thought of death is an unwel
come one. There are three principal reasons why
all sensible people fear death so much :

First, because the love of life, the dread of death

is inherent in human nature. Secondly, because

every rational being is well aware that death is bitter,

and the separation of soul and body cannot take place

7

8 On Death.

without inexpressible suffering. Thirdly, because
no one knows whither he will go after death, or how
he will stand in the Day of Judgment.

It will be well to explain the second and third of
these reasons rather more fully, in order on the one
hand that those who lead a careless life may per
haps be awakened thereby to a fear of death, and
learn to avoid sin, and on the other that each one
of us may be warned to prepare for death, lest we be
overtaken by it unawares. Every one shrinks in
stinctively from death, because it is bitter, and pain
ful beyond description to human nature. The soul
of man is subject to many anxieties, apprehensions
and sorrows, and the body is subject to pain and
sickness of all kinds, yet none of these pains can be
compared to the agony of death. A man who loses
his good name and his property feels acute grief,
but he does not die of it. All suffering and sick
ness, all grief and anguish, however terrible, is less
bitter than death. Hence we see death to be a
mighty monarch, the most cruel, the most relentless,
the most formidable enemy of mankind. Look at a
man wrestling with death, and you will see how the
tyrant overpowers, disfigures, prostrates his victim.

Now why is death so hard, so terrible a thing ?
It is because the soul has to separate itself from the
body. Body and soul were created for each other,
and so intimate is their union that a parting between
them seems almost impossible. They would endure

On the Terrors of Death. 9

almost anything rather than be torn asunder.
The soul is fearful of the future, and of the unknown
land to which she is going. The body is conscious
that as soon as the soul departs from it, it will become
the prey of worms. Consequently the soul cannot
bear to leave the body, nor the body to part from
the soul. Body and soul desire their union to
remain unbroken, and together to enjoy the sweets
of life.

In one of his epistles to St. Augustine, St. Cyril,
Bishop of Jerusalem, relates what was told him by
a man who had been raised from the dead. Amongst
other things, he said : " The moment when my soul
left my body, was one of such awful pain and distress
that no one can imagine the anguish I then endured.
If all conceivable suffering and pain were put
together they would be as nothing in comparison
with the torture I underwent at the separation of
soul and body." And to emphasize his words, he
added, addressing St. Cyril : " Thou knowest that
thou hast a soul, but thou knowest not what it is.
Thou knowest that beings exist called angels, but
thou art ignorant of their nature. Thou knowest
also that there is a God, but thou canst not com
prehend His being. So it is with everything that
has not corporeal shape ; our understanding cannot
grasp these things. In like manner it is impossible
for thee to understand how I could suffer such in
tense agony in one short moment."

io On Death.

And if some people apparently pass away most
peacefully, this is because nature, exhausted by
suffering, has no longer the force to struggle with
death. We know from the testimony of Our Re
deemer Himself that no agony is like the agony of
death. Although throughout the whole course of
His sorrowful Passion, He was tortured in a terrible
manner, yet all the martyrdom He endured was not
to be compared with what He suffered at the moment
of His death. This we gather from the Gospels.
Nowhere do we find that at any period of His
life the greatness of the pains He bore extorted
from Our Lord a cry of anguish. But when the
moment came for Him to expire, and the ruthless
hand of death rent His Heart asunder, we read that
He cried out with a loud voice, and gave up the
ghost. Hence it is evident that at no period of the
Passion did Christ suffer so acutely as at the most
painful separation of His sacred soul from His
blessed body.

In order that mankind might at least in some
measure understand how terrible was the death
Christ died for us, He ordained that we, at our
dissolution, should taste something of the bitterness
of His death, and experience the truth of the follow
ing words of Pope St. Gregory : " Christ's conflict
with death represented our last conflict, teaching us
that the agony of death is the keenest agony that
man has ever felt or will ever feel. It is the will of

On the Terrors of Death. 1 1

God that man should suffer so intensely at the close
of his life, in order that we may recognize and
appreciate the magnitude of Christ's love for us, the
inestimable benefit He has conferred on us by
enduring death for our sakes. For it would have
been impossible for man fully to know the infinite
love of God, unless he too had drunk to some extent
of the bitter chalice which Christ drank."

In this passage from the writings of the holy Pope
Gregory we are taught that Christ ordained that
all men in the hour of their dissolution should suffer
the like pains which Christ suffered for us in His
last agony, in order that they may gain some knowl
edge, by their own experience, of the terrible nature
of the death He endured for us, and the great
price He paid for our ransom. How painful, how
terrible, how awful death will be for us, if our death
is in any degree to resemble Christ's most agonizing
death !

How severe a conflict is before us poor mortals !
What torments await us at our last hour ! One
is almost inclined to think it would have been
preferable never to have been born, than to be born
to suffer such anguish. But it is thus that heaven
is to be won, and through this narrow gate alone
can we enter into paradise. Wherefore, O Christian,
accept your destiny cheerfully, and form a steadfast
resolution to bear unmurmuringly the bitterness of
death. For it is a great merit to yield up one's life

12 On Death.

— the life every man loves so well — and submit with
a ready and willing mind to the pangs of death.
And for the purpose of encouraging you to gain
merit in your last moments, let me counsel you to
make the following determination to suffer death
bravely.

RESOLUTION.

O God of all justice, who hast ordained that since
the Fall of our first parents all men should die, and
also that it should be the lot of many amongst us to
taste in their death something of the pains Thy Son
endured at the hour of His death, I submit most
willingly to this Thy stern decree. Although life
is sweet to me, and death appears most bitter, yet
out of obedience to Thee I voluntarily accept death
with all its pains, and am ready to yield up my soul
whenever, wherever, in what way or manner soever
it may please Thy divine providence to appoint.
And since Thou hast made death so bitter to man, in
order that we may feel to a certain extent by our
own experience how painful a death Thy beloved
Son underwent for our sakes, I willingly accept the
penalty of death, that I may at least at my latter
end know something of the pains my blessed Lord
suffered on my account. In honor, therefore, of
His bitter Passion and death, I now cheerfully sub
ject myself to whatever sufferings I may be called
upon to pass through at the moment of my depart-

On the Terrors of Death. 13

ure, and declare my determination to bear them with
all the constancy of which I am capable. I pray
that this resolution on my part may be pleasing in
Thy sight, and that Thou wilt give me grace to bear
my last agony with patience. Amen.

CHAPTER II.

ON THE ASSAULTS OF SATAN AT THE HOUR OF DEATH.

ALTHOUGH death is in itself most bitter, yet its
bitterness is not a little enhanced by the vivid remem
brance of the sins of our past life, by the thought
of the judgment to come, of the eternity before us,
and by the assaults of Satan. These four things
fill the soul with such terror, that it would infallibly
despair unless strengthened by the help of God.
We will enter into some explanation of each of these
four things, and also indicate some means of com
bating the fears they inspire.

With regard to the assaults of Satan, know that
the all-just God permits him to have great power to
assail us at the hour of death ; not indeed for our
perdition, but for our probation. Before expiring
the Christian has yet to prove that nothing can avail
to make him forsake his God. For this reason the
evil enemy employs all the power he has received,
and brings all his forces to bear upon a man when he
is dying, in the hope of causing him to sin, and
thrusting him down to hell. During our whole
lifetime he attacks us fiercely, and neglects no means
14

On the Assaults of Satan at the Hour of Death. 1 5

whereby he may deceive us. But all these perse,
cutions do not bear comparison with the final on
slaught with which he endeavors to overcome us at
the last. Then he raves and rages, like a roaring
lion, seeking whom he may devour.

This we learn from the following passage in the
Apocalypse (xii. 12) : "Woe to the earth and to the
sea, because the devil is come down unto you, having
great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time."
These words bear a special application for the dying,
against whom the devil conceives a great wrath, and
whom he makes every effort to seduce. For he
knows full well that if he does not get them into his
power now, he will never again have the chance of
doing so. Hear what St. Gregory says on this
point : " Consider well how terrible is the hour of
death, and how appalling the remembrance of our
evil deeds will be at that time. For the spirits of
darkness will recall all the harm they have done us,
and remind us of the sins which we have committed
at their instigation. They will not go to the death
bed of the godless only, but they will be present
with the elect, striving to discover something sinful
whereof to accuse them. Alas ! how will it fare
with us hapless mortals in that hour, and what can
we say for ourselves, seeing how innumerable are
the sins to be laid to our charge ? What can we
answer to our adversaries, when they place all our sins
before us, with the object of reducing us to despair ? "

i6 On Death.

The evil spirits will tempt their unhappy victim
at the moment of death on various points, but
especially in regard to the sins into which he has
most frequently fallen. If during his lifetime he
has cherished hatred towards any one, they will
conjure up before his dying eyes the image of that
person, rehearsing all he did to injure him, in order
to revive the flame of hate towards that enemy, or
kindle it anew. Or if any one has transgressed
against purity, they will show him the accomplice
of his sin, and strive to awaken the guilty passion
felt for that individual. If he has been troubled with
doubts concerning faith, they recall to his mind the
article of belief which he had difficulty in accepting,
representing it to him as untrue. If a man has a
tendency to pusillanimity, the evil spirits encourage
it in him, that they may perchance rob him of his
hope of salvation. The man who has sinned through
pride, and boasted of his good works, they seek to
ensnare by flattery, assuring him that he stands high
in the favor of God, and all he has done cannot
fail to secure him a place in heaven. Again, if in
his lifetime a man has given way to impatience,
allowing himself to be angry and irritated by every
trifle, they make his illness appear most irksome to
him that he may become impatient, and rebel against
God for having sent upon him so painful a malady.
Or if he has been tepid and indevout, without fer
vor in prayer or assiduity in his religious exercises

On the Assaults of Satan at the Hour of Death. 1 7

they try to maintain in his soul this state of apathy,
suggesting to him that his physical weakness is too
great even to allow him to join in the prayers his
friends read to him. Finally, they tempt those who
have led a godless life, and repeatedly fallen into
mortal sin, to despair, representing their transgres
sions to be so great as to be past forgiveness. In
a word, the spirits of evil assail mortals at the
moment of death most fiercely at their most vulner
able point, just as a skilful general will storm a
fortress on the side where he perceives the ramparts
to be weakest.

But the devils do not always confine themselves to
tempting a man in regard to his chief failings and
predominant faults ; they frequently tempt him to
sins of which he has not hitherto been guilty. For
these crafty foes spare no pains to deceive the dying,
and if they fail in one way, they attempt to succeed
in another. These temptations are of no ordinary
character. They are sometimes so violent that it is
impossible for weak mortals to resist them without
supernatural assistance. If it is all that any one in
good health can do to withstand the assaults of the
devil, and even such a one is often overcome by
them, how difficult must it be for one who is enfeebled
by sickness to struggle against foes so formidable !
On this point a pious writer says : " Unless the dying
man has, previous to his last illness, armed himself
against these attacks, and accustomed himself to do

1 8 On Death.

battle with his spiritual adversaries, he stands a
poor chance of prevailing against them at the
moment of death. If he does so, it will be only
through the assistance of almighty God, of our
blessed Lady, of his guardian angel, or of one of
the saints. For our merciful God and His angels
and blessed saints do not abandon the Christian in
the hour of his direst need ; they hasten to his help,
that is, provided he is deserving of their aid." In
order to prepare one's self before one's last illness
to combat these temptations, it will be advisable to
recite with due devotion the following prayer :

O Jesus, compassionate Redeemer of mankind,
I recall to mind the threefold temptation Thou didst
undergo from the evil enemy, and I pray Thee
through the glorious victory Thou didst obtain over
him, to stand by me in my last conflict and fortify
me against all his temptations. I know that in my
own strength I cannot contend against so powerful
a foe, and I must assuredly be vanquished unless
Thou, or Thy blessed saints, grant me timely assist
ance. Therefore I now earnestly implore Thy help
and that of Thy saints, and propose to arm myself
to the best of my ability by Thy grace, to meet the
temptations that await me. I promise now, before
Thee and the holy angels and blessed saints, that
I will never voluntarily expose myself to any temp
tation, of whatever nature it may be, but with the help
of Thy grace I will combat it vigorously. Amen.

CHAPTER III.

ON THE APPARITION OF THE SPIRITS OF DARKNESS.

BESIDES what has been already mentioned, the
terrible appearance of the evil spirits makes death
yet more alarming to us. It is the opinion of many
of the Fathers, that every one, when expiring, sees
the evil enemy, at any rate at the moment of draw
ing his last breath, if not before. How appalling
this sight is, and with what terror it must inspire
the dying, exceeds the power of words to declare.
It is related of Brother Giles that one day, when he
was praying in his cell, the devil appeared to him in
so frightful a shape, that the Brother lost the power
of speech, and thought his last hour had come. As
his lips could not utter a sound, he raised his heart
in humble supplication to God, and the apparition
vanished. Afterwards, when relating what had
befallen him to his brother-monks, he trembled from
head to foot as he described the hideous aspect
of -the adversary of mankind. Then going to St.
Francis, he asked him this question : " Father, have
you ever seen anything in this world the sight of
which was so horrible that it was enough to kill one

2o On Death.

to behold it ? " And the Saint replied : " I have
indeed seen such a thing ; it is none other than the
devil, whose aspect is so loathsome that no one could
gaze upon it even for a short time and live, unless
God specially enabled him to do so."

St. Cyril also, writing to St. Augustine, says that
one of the three men who were raised from the dead
told him : " As the hour of my departure drew nigh,
a multitude of devils, countless in number, came
and stood about me. Their forms were more hor
rible than anything imagination can conceive. One
would rather be burnt in the fire than be com
pelled to look upon them. These demons ranged
themselves around me, and reproached me with all
the misdeeds I had ever done, thinking to drive
me to despair. And in fact I should have given way
before them, had not God in His mercy come to my
succor."

Here we have the testimony of one who actually
had learnt by his own experience how frightful the
appearance of the evil enemy is, and who declares
that nothing can be more horrible than the form the
devil assumes.

O my God ! how overwhelming the terrors that
will take possession of the hapless individual who
lies at the point of death when the infernal dragon
appears, full of rage, and threatening to swallow
him up in his fiery jaws.

In this hour of supreme distress, send my guard-

On the Apparition of the Spirits of Darkness. 21

ian angel to me, O God, I pray Thee, that he may
drive away the evil enemy, otherwise I shall infal
libly fall into despair and lose all hope of my sal
vation.

O most blessed Virgin Mary ! who didst crush
the head of the serpent, be with me in the hour of
my death and do not permit the presence of the
cruel adversary to cause my eternal perdition.

CHAPTER IV.

ON THE FEAR OF HELL.

DEATH is rendered yet more bitter to us by the
fear of hell and the clear view of eternity before us.
For when we are dangerously ill, and death stares
us in the face, the terror which fills us at the pros
pect of eternity is so overwhelming, that we are
filled with fear. For we see plainly that in a few
days — a few hours perhaps — we must enter eternity,
and we know not what awaits us there. The dread
lest we should be lost everlastingly is so great as to
cause us to shudder.

Moreover, the alarm that tortures us is not a little
augmented by the remembrance of the sins whereby
we have oftentimes deserved hell ; for no man can
be certain whether he has done penance aright, and
whether he has really obtained pardon. This is
explained by a passage from the writings of the
aforementioned Pope St. Gregory, who describes
this fear in the following words :

" The just man who is truly concerned about his
eternal salvation will from time to time think of his
future Judge. He will meditate before death over-

22

On the Fear of HdL 23

takes him upon the account he will have to give of
his life. If there are no great sins wherewith his
conscience reproaches him, he still has cause for
alarm on account of the daily sins of which he per
haps takes little heed. For how often do we not
sin in thought ? It is comparatively easy to avoid
evil deeds, but it is a far more difficult matter to
keep one's heart free from inordinate thoughts. Yet
we read in Holy Scripture : ' Woe to you that devise
that which is unprofitable and work evil in your
thoughts' (Mich. ii. i). And again: 'In your
heart you work iniquities ' (Ps. Ivii. 3).

" Hence the just are ever in fear of the awful
judgments of God, for they are conscious that all
these secret sins will be brought to judgment, as St.
Paul says : « In that day God shall judge the secrets
of men' (Rom. ii. 16). And although all his life
long a good man will walk in fear of the judgment,
yet this fear will notably increase as he draws
near to the end of his days. It is said of Our
Lord, that when the time of His death approached,
He began to be sorrowful and to fear, and being in
an agony, He prayed the longer. Was not this in
tended to teach us how it would be with us in our
latter end, and what distress and anguish would
overwhelm us ? "

Such are the words of Pope St. Gregory, calculated
to inspire not only sinners, but also the just with
fear, since, as the saint says, even those who are

24 On Death.

not conscious of having committed any grievous
sins, are yet full of apprehension in regard to the
sentence that will be passed on them. If the just
are not devoid of alarm, what can we poor sinners
do, who know ourselves to be guilty of many and
manifold transgressions, and who every day add sin
to sin ? What will become of us ? What can we do ?
Is there no means we can employ to obtain mercy
of God ? I know no better counsel than that which
Christ Himself gives us in the words : " Watch ye
therefore, praying at all times, that you may be
accounted worthy to escape all these things that are
to come, and to stand before the Son of man "
(Luke xxi. 36).

Since Christ points out to us prayer as the best
and easiest means, let each one faithfully follow this
exhortation and diligently call upon almighty God
and His Blessed Mother, and all the saints, implor
ing them day by day to protect him, and commend
ing to them his latter end.

CHAPTER V.

ON THE JUDGMENT.

ABOVE and beyond all that we have hitherto con
sidered as contributing to make death terrible to us,
is the thought that we must stand before the judg
ment seat of God, and give an account of all we
have done and left undone. How awful this judg
ment is, we learn from these words of St. Paul :
" It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the
living God " (Heb. x. 31). For if it is very alarm
ing even to fall into the hands of an angry man,
how much more terrible will it be to fall into the
hands of an omnipotent God !

All the saints trembled in anticipation of the
sentence that would be passed on them by God, for
they well knew how exceedingly severe His judg
ments are. The Royal Psalmist says : " Enter not
into judgment with Thy servant, O Lord, for in Thy
sight no man living shall be justified " (Ps. cxlii. 2).
And holy Job exclaims : " What shall I do if God
arise to judge me ? What am I that I should answer
Him ? I cannot answer Him one for a thousand."
25

26 On Death.

Again St. Paul says : " I am not conscious to myself
of anything, yet am I not hereby justified ; but He
that judgeth me is the Lord " (i Cor. iv. 4). We
read also in the lives of the Fathers that the holy
Abbot Agathon was overwhelmed with fear as his
end drew near. His brethren said to him : " Why
shouldst thou be afraid, reverend Father, thou
hast led so pious a life ? " But he answered them :
" The judgments of God are very different from the
judgments of man." The holy Abbot Elias used
likewise to say : " There are three things that I
fear. First I dread the moment when my soul has
to leave my body ; secondly, the moment when I
must stand before the tribunal of God ; thirdly, the
moment when sentence is passed upon me." No
one can fail to concur in the saying of this saintly
man, for indeed, beside the general judgment, there
is nothing so much to be apprehended as these three
things. All good and holy men have feared them,
all do fear them. Those who do not fear them,
prove that they know very little about them, or have
meditated scarcely at all upon them. For the benefit
of one who may be so unenlightened, I will give a
brief instruction on the subject.

Consider, first of all, what a strange new sensa
tion it will be for thy soul, when she finds herself
separated from the body, in an unknown world.
Hitherto she has knoivn no existence apart from the
body ; now the is suddenly separated from it.

On the Judgment. 27

Hitherto she was in time ; now she has passed into
eternity.

Now for the first time her eyes are opened, and
she sees clearly what eternity is, what sin is, what
virtue is, how infinite is the being of the Deity, and
how wondrous is her own nature.

All this will appear so marvellous to her that she
will be almost petrified with astonishment. After
the first instant of wonder, she will be conducted
before the tribunal of God, that she may give an
account of all her actions ; and the terror that will
then seize upon the unhappy soul surpasses our
powers of conception.

No wonder the hapless sinner shrinks from
appearing before a tribunal where he will be con
victed of all his misdeeds and severely punished for
them ! Would he not rather be thrown into a dark
dungeon, and be fed on bread and water, than have
to stand before this judgment seat and be put to
open shame ?

If it is so hateful to a criminal to be brought
before an earthly magistrate, well may the poor soul
quake with fear when she is introduced into the pres
ence of God, the strict and omniscient Judge, and
required to give the most accurate account of all the
thoughts, words, deeds and omissions of her past
life. Holy Job acknowledges this when he says :
" Who will grant me this, that Thou mayst protect
me in hell, and hide me till Thy wrath pass " (Job

28 On Death.

xiv. 13). Observe that even the patient Job would
rather lie in a darksome pit, and be concealed in a
gloomy, sombre cave, than appear before the
countenance of an angry God.

There are six things which strike terror into the
soul, when she is summoned to the particular judg
ment.

(i) The soul fears because she knows her Judge
to be omniscient ; that nothing can be concealed
from Him, nor can He be in any way deceived.

(2) Because her Judge is omnipotent ; nothing can
withstand Him, and no one can escape from Him.

(3) Because her Judge is not merely the most just,
but the most strict of judges, to whom sin is so hateful
that He will not allow the slightest transgression to
pass unpunished. (4) Because the soul knows that
God is not her judge alone, but also her accuser ;
she has provoked Him to anger, she has offended
against Him, and He will defend His honor and
avenge every insult offered to it. (5) Because the
soul is aware that the sentence once uttered is irrev
ocable ; there is no appeal for her to a higher
court, it is useless for her to complain of the sen
tence. It cannot be reversed, and whether adverse
or favorable she must needs accept it. (6) The
most powerful reason of all why the soul fears to
appear before the judgment seat is because she
knows not what the sentence of the Judge will be.
She has far more cause to fear than to hope. And

On the Judgment. 29

all thought of help is now over. Forever, forever
lost ; forever, forever damned ! These six points
fill the soul with such unspeakable anguish and ter
ror, that were she mortal instead of immortal, she
would be willing to die the most cruel and violent
death as a means of escape.

Consider, furthermore, in what form thou wilt
appear before thy Judge, and how thou wilt be put
to confusion on account of thy sins. If a man in
punishment of his evil deeds were sentenced to be
stripped to the skin in presence of a whole multitude,
how greatly ashamed he would feel 1 But if some
loathsome and disgusting sore upon his body were
thus disclosed to sight, he would be still more
ashamed. Thus will it be with thee, when thou
standest before thy Judge in the presence of many
hosts of angels. Not merely will all thy wrong
doings, thy thoughts, words and works be revealed,
but all thy evil propensities will be made manifest to
thee, and thou wilt be put to terrible shame because
of them. Thou canst not deny that these evil pro
clivities cling to thee, for art thou not given to anger,
impatience, revenge, hatred, envy, pride, vanity,
sensuality, sloth, greediness, self-love, avarice, world-
liness and all malice ? These and other bad ten
dencies cleave to thy soul, and disfigure it so fright
fully, that after death thou wilt be alarmed at the
sight of thy own soul, and heartily ashamed of all
the stains upon it.

30 On Death.

Next consider in what manner thy holy Judge will
receive thee, when thou appearest before Him not
merely laden with a countless multitude of sins, but
in a state of indescribable impurity. Thou wilt
stand before Him in the greatest confusion, not
knowing which way to look. Beneath thy feet hell
lies ; above thee is the angry countenance of thy
Judge. Beside thee thou seest the demons who
are there to accuse thee. In thy own interior thou
beholdest all thy sins and misdeeds. It is im
possible to hide thyself ; and yet this exposure is
intolerable.

This would be a fitting time to expound how the
evil enemy will accuse thee, how he will bring all
thy sins to light and call down upon them the ven
geance of God ; and also how the just God will
demand the most accurate account of all thy actions.
But this has so often formed the theme of preachers,
that, for the sake of brevity, I will not enlarge on this
part of my subject, but conclude with the following
anecdote.

Two intimate friends agreed together that which
ever of the two should die first, should appear to
the survivor, provided he was permitted by God to
do so. When at length one was removed by death,
faithful to his promise he appeared to his friend, but
with a sad and woebegone aspect, saying : " No
man knows ! no man knows ! no man knows ! " —
" What is it that no one knows ? " his friend asked.

On the Judgment. 31

And the spirit answered : " No one knows how
strict are the judgments of God, and how severe His
chastisements ! "

These things being so, what does it behoove us to
do, in order not to fall into the hands of a wrathful
Judge ? I can give thee no better counsel than this :
Repent of thy sins, make a sincere confession, amend
thy ways, and begin to think seriously about thy
eternal salvation. Whilst thou art still in good
health think sometimes of death, and prepare thyself
for it. Do not postpone this until old age comes
upon thee, or a mortal sickness overtakes thee.
There is no greater, no more important art upon
earth than the art of dying a good death. Upon
this thy whole eternity depends ; an eternity of sur
passing felicity or of unutterable torment. Only
one trial is accorded thee ; if thou dost not stand
this one trial, all is lost, an eternity of misery is
before thee. And if thou hast not learned this all-
important art in thy lifetime, when thou art well and
strong, how canst thou practise it to thy eternal gain
when upon thy death-bed ? It will be utterly impos
sible for thee to do so unless God works a miracle
of mercy on thy behalf. Thou canst not reckon
upon this ; God has not promised it nor hast thou
deserved so great a favor, Therefore let me entreat
thee to follow my friendly counsel, and prepare
thyself frequently for death whilst in full health and
strength ; for this is the only means whereby thou

32 On Death.

mayst hope to become proficient in the art of dying
well, and pass successfully through the one trial that
awaits thee, by which thy eternal destiny will be
determined.

PART II.

THE LAST JUDGMENT.
CHAPTER I.

ON THE SIGNS THAT SHALL PRECEDE THE LAST

JUDGMENT.

JESUS CHRIST, the Judge of the living and the
dead, who at His first coming appeared upon the
earth in all stillness and tranquillity, under a gentle
and attractive form, will come again the second
time to judgment with great majesty and glory.

In order that His advent may not find us unpre
pared, He will send beforehand many and terrible
signs to warn us to abandon our sinful life. Of
these signs He Himself says : " There shall be signs
in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars ; and
upon the earth distress of nations, men withering
away for fear and expectation of what shall come
upon the whole world. For there shall be then
great tribulation, such as hath not been from the
3 33

34 The Last Judgment.

beginning of the world until now, neither shall be.
And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh
should be saved." What an awful announcement !
What a terrible prophecy !

Could there be any more terrible prediction made
to us than this which comes from the lips of eter
nal Truth? When God was about to destroy the
city of Jerusalem, He announced its downfall by
several signs. A comet, resembling a fiery sword,
blazed over the city, and hosts of armed warriors
were seen contending in the air. Jerusalem might
at the last moment have interpreted aright these signs
and done penance unto salvation. But Jerusalem
knew not the time of its visitation. If God caused
such wondrous signs to appear before the destruc
tion of one single city, will He not announce the
approaching end of the world, and the chastise
ments that are to come upon it, by awful and terri
fic signs ? There is therefore every reason to be
lieve, that a considerable time before the Last Day,
fearful signs will appear in all lands in the
heavens. This Christ appears to indicate in the
words : " There shall be signs in the sun, and in the
moor?, and in the stars ; men withering away for
fear, and expectation of what shall come upon the
whole world." These signs will become more nu
merous day by day, and men will be struck with
such terror, that if God did not shorten those days,
even the very elect would begin to despair. Then,

The Signs that shall Precede the Last Judgment. 35

as St. Jerome says, the heavens will be overcast
with heavy clouds, and a dreadful tempest will arise.
The force of the wind will carry the inhabitants of
the earth off their feet, and whirl them aloft in the
air ; trees will be uprooted, houses unroofed. Long
peals of thunder will resound in the heavens, the
flashes of lightning, like serpents of fire, will light
up the sky, and with their forked tongues, playing
about the dwellings of mankind, will kindle a gen
eral conflagration, amid the crash of thunder. The
waters of the ocean will be so agitated that their
waves will rise mountain-high, towering almost to
the clouds. The roaring and raging of the storm-
swept billows will last for some time. All the beasts
of the earth will lift up their voice, and their dismal
howls will fill the air, so that the hearts of men will
stand still for terror.

Yet this is but the beginning of sorrow, Our Lord
tells us. What will next occur He describes in these
words : " Immediately after the tribulation of those
days, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall
not give her light, and the stars shall fall from
heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be moved."

This darkening of the sun will take place in the
full light of midday. And as its golden rays en
lightening the face of nature rejoice both man and
beast, so the sudden withdrawal of its light wiL
cause sorrow and distress to the whole of creation
And this all the more, because the moon will cease

36 The Last Judgment.

to shine, and her gentle, peaceful light will no longer
illuminate the shades of night. All the stars also
which bespangle the firmament and cast a glimmer
ing to earth, will disappear from their accustomed
place. This awful darkness will strike such alarm
and anguish to the heart of all living creatures, both
men and brutes, that the mourning and lamentation
will be universal. With the wail of distress ascend
ing from the dwellers upon earth, the howls of the
evil spirits in the air will 'mingle in hideous concert,
for they will perceive from these signs that the Day
of Judgment is at hand ; they know that they will
soon have to appear before the rigorous tribunal of
God ; they know they will be cast down to hell for
all eternity. Hence their fury, their rage, and
frantic raving.

Here we may repeat the words spoken by Christ :
" This is but the beginning of sorrow," and we may
add, there will be no end to it. For after the ter
rific darkness all will be upset and in disorder, and
the elements will be let loose, so that men will fear'
lest the heavens should fall and the earth sink from
beneath their feet. This is what Christ means
when He says : " The powers of heaven shall be
moved and the stars shall fall from heaven." For
in accordance with the divine will, the firmament
with all its stars, the sun with its attendant planets,
the atmosphere with its veil of clouds, will be so
mightily shaken and made to tremble, that appalling

The Signs that shall Precede the Last Judgment. 37

sounds of crashing, breaking, fearful explosions, will
everywhere be heard. The stars will be driven
from their orbits, and thus the great powers of
heaven will conflict with one another.

What will the feelings be of the man who lives
through events such as these ? How all mankind,
all created beings, will mourn ! Christ Himself
tells us this will be so : " Upon earth will be distress
of nations by reason of the confusion of the roaring
of the sea and of the waves ; men withering away for
fear, and expectation of what shall come upon the
whole world" (Luke xxi. 25, 26). And in another
place He says : " There shall be then great tribula
tion, such as hath not been from the beginning of
the world until now, neither shall be. And unless
those days had been shortened, no flesh should be
saved" (Matt. xxiv. 21, 22). Our Lord could
have used no stronger expression to describe the
utter misery of unhappy mortals, than by saying,
they shall wither away for fear, and apprehension of
the things that are yet to come upon the world.
How is it possible for the men who shall be alive at
that time not to despond, not to despair, in pres
ence of such fathomless misery ? Even the faith
and courage of an apostle would be sorely tried
to bear up against such unspeakable wretchedness.
All men will have the appearance of one who has
seen a ghost. Their hair will stand on end, their
knees will strike together, they will quake with

38 The Last Judgment.

fear, their terror will deprive them of the power of
speech, their hearts will die within them for tribu
lation, they will lose reason and consciousness, no
one will help his neighbor, no one will comfort
his neighbor, no one will so much as exchange a
word with his neighbor ; only they will all unite in
weeping and wailing, and fly to hide themselves in
the caves of the earth.

When this lamentation has lasted for a time, the
God of justice will put an end to their misery, and
all that is beneath the firmament of heaven shall be
destroyed by fire. For fire will fall down from
heaven, and ignite everything with which it comes
in contact. In many places also flames will spring
up out of the ground, and terrify unhappy mortals
to such an extent that they will not know how to
escape from them. Some will seek shelter in cel
lars and caverns, others will immerse themselves in
rivers and lakes. The devouring flames will spread
so fast that the forests will be set on fire, and the
towns and villages will be included in the destruc
tion. At length the whole earth will be on fire and
a general conflagration will ensue, such as never
has been seen or heard of. The heat of the raging
flames will be so intense that the stones and rocks
will melt, and the sea and all waters upon the earth
will boil and hiss. All men then living, every beast
upon the land and every fish in the sea will be de
stroyed in this \miversal conflagration. Thus the

The Signs that shall Precede the Last Judgment. 39

whole world will be brought to a terrible end, and
everything on this earth will be either consumed
or purified by the fire. After this has happened,
the appearance of the earth will be completely
changed.

CHAPTER II.

ON THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD.

THE reader will perhaps not take what has been
said in the preceding chapter much to heart, because
he cherishes the hope that he will not be alive
during that awful period. But what we are now
about to speak of concerns every one, whoever he
may be. Wherefore let him read it attentively and
ponder it seriously.

The first event that will follow upon the end of
the world is the general resurrection of the dead.
All men, whoever they may be, and whenever and
wherever they have lived, not excepting infants
whose existence has been but one brief moment, will
rise again.

With the solemn blast of a trumpet God will cause
all men to be summoned to the Last Judgment. Con
cerning this Christ says : " He shall send His angels
with a trumpet and a great voice ; and they shall
gather together His elect from the four winds, from
the farthest parts of the heavens to the utmost bounds
of them" (Matt. xxiv. 31). And St. Paul says:
" We shall indeed all rise again, but we shall not
40

On the Resurrection of the Dead. 41

all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of
an eye, at the last trumpet ; for the trumpet shall
sound, and the dead shall rise again incorruptible :
and we shall be changed " (i Cor. xv. 51, 52).

After the vast conflagration God will send out
His angels, who will blow so mighty a blast upon
their trumpet, that it will re-echo throughout the
whole world. The sound of this trumpet will be so
solemn that it will cause the earth to tremble. Its
powerful voice will awaken the dead, calling on
them : "Arise, ye dead, and come to judgment I
Arise ye dead, and come to judgment ! Arise, ye
dead, and come to judgment I " Loud, continuous,
and most solemn will be the blast of that trumpet.

How terrified all the evil spirits and the souls of
the lost will be when they hear this call ! They
will howl and mourn, for the fatal hour has come at
last, the hour they have looked forward to so long,
and with such unutterable dread. There will be
such a commotion in hell, such raving and raging
and fury, that one might imagine the devils were all
tearing one another to pieces. " Alas, alas ! " they
will shriek in their despair. " How can we possi
bly stand before the countenance of our angry
Judge ! How can we possibly endure the shame,
the agony that will be our portion ! Could we only
remain here, how gladly would we do so, great as
are the torments we have now to endure ! " But
vain are all their wishes, futile are all their struggles.

42 The Last Judgment.

They cannot choose, but must obey the voice of
the trumpet. The general resurrection begins while
its sound still re-echoes over the whole globe. Do
not pause to ask how this can be, for we know that
it will be so, on the irrefragable authority of God's
omnipotence and His word which cannot deceive.
However long ago the body of a man may have
crumbled into dust, whatever changes it may have
passed through, every portion and every particle will
unite to form again the same body which was his
during his lifetime. " And the sea gave up the
dead that were in it, and death and hell gave up
their dead that were in them " (Apoc. xx. 13).

Consider this solemn truth, O Christian, for it con
cerns thee closely. As certainly as thou now livest,
so certainly wilt thou one day rise again from the
grave. Place this awful moment vividly before thee.
Even if thou wert pious, and shouldst end thy days
in the grace of God, yet, according to the testi
mony of Holy Scripture and of the Catholic Church,
fear and trembling will lay hold upon thee. Con
sidering how inconceivably rigorous God will be in
His judgment of men, even the just will have cause
to fear in appearing before His tribunal, as we shall
presently show. And if good and just men are
afraid, what will be the fear that thou, poor sinner,
wilt feel, when the trumpet calls thee to judgment 1
Wherefore amend thy ways, and make thy peace
now with thy strict Judge, by works of penance,

On the Resurrection of the Dead. 43

while there Is yet time. Now in order that thou
mayst prepare thyself for that terrible hour of resur
rection, we will describe first the resurrection of the
good, and then that of the reprobate.

Awakened by the solemn sound of the trumpet
all the souls of the just will come down from heaven,
and, accompanied by their guardian angels, betake
themselves to the spot where their remains were
interred. The graves will be open, and in them the
bodies will be seen lying, incorrupt but yet lifeless.
The body of every good man will rest in the grave
as if he were asleep ; it will be blooming as a rose,
fragrant as a lily, shining as a star, fair as an
angel and perfect in every member. What will the
soul say when she beholds the body appertaining to
her lying before her in such beauty ? She will say :
" Hail, blessed and beloved body, how I rejoice
once more to rejoin thee ! How lovely thou art, how
glorious, how pleasing, how fragrant 1 Come to me,
that I may be wedded to thee for all eternity." Then
through the power of God the body will be reunited
to the soul, and in that same instant return to life.

O my God, what will be the astonishment of the
body when it finds itself alive again, and moulded
in so beauteous a form ! Soul and body will greet
each other lovingly and embrace each other affec
tionately with heartfelt emotion. The soul will speak
thus to the body : " How earnestly I have longed for
thee, how I have desired to see this day 1 Now I will

44 The Last Judgment.

conduct thee to the regions of heavenly bliss that we
may rejoice together for evermore." And the body
will answer : " Welcome, dearest soul ; it is indeed
a heartfelt joy to me to be with thee again. The
greater the pain our past separation caused me, the
greater the delight our present reunion affords."

Then the soul will speak again, and say to the
body : " Blessed be thou, my chosen companion,
who hast been so faithful to me. Blessed be thy
senses and all thy members, for they have ever
abstained from evil." And the body will reply :
" Be thou rather blessed, O dearest soul, for it was
by thy instigation I did so, and thou didst incite me
to all that was good. It is to thee that I owe my
present felicity, therefore I praise and magnify thee,
and I will praise and magnify thee to all eternity."
Thus body and soul will rejoice together with inex
pressible satisfaction.

Then the holy guardian angels will congratulate
these blessed beings and exult with them over their
joyous resurrection. In all cemeteries, and places
where many persons are buried, the blessed will
arise first with resplendent glorified bodies. That
they will take the precedence over the others may
be gathered from Christ's words, when He says :
" Wonder not at this ; for the hour cometh, wherein
all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the
Son of God. And they that have done good things
shall come forth to the resurrection of life ; but they

On the Resurrection *f the Dead. 45

that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judg
ment " (John v. 28, 29).

And as in every graveyard there are many per
sons to rise again, and amongst these a considerable
proportion will be good and just, imagine the pleas
ure it will be to them to see one another again,
arrayed in such shining glorious bodies.

God grant that I be counted amongst the number
of these happy individuals ! How heartily will I
thank Him if He grant my request !

The resurrection of the wicked will follow imme
diately upon that of the just ; but oh, how different
will it be! In every burying-ground all the lost
souls will assemble whose bodies have been interred
there, and they will be compelled again to assume
them and reunite themselves to them. But what
will be the reluctance, the disgust wherewith they
will do this ! When the soul sees her own body,
she will shrink back from it with the utmost repul
sion, so hideous will it be, and she will feel that she
had rather go straight to hell than again unite her
self to it. For the bodies of the reprobates will
resemble devils more than men, so frightful, so
loathsome, so offensive will they be. Yet, however
the soul resists and opposes the reunion with her
body, now so hideous, she must submit to it, for
God compels her to it.

Who can depict the despair that takes possession of
the body when, reanimated by the return of the soul,

46 The Last Judgment.

it awakens to a consciousness that it is lost forever.
With a shriek of rage it will exclaim : " Woe is
me, woe is me to all eternity ! Better were it for
me a thousand times never to have been born, than
to have come to this resurrection of misery 1 " Then
the soul will rejoin : " Thou accursed body, I have
already for several hundred years had to endure the
torments of hell, and now I must return with thee
to the everlasting burning. Thou art to blame for
all this misfortune ; I gave thee good counsels, but
thou wouldst not follow them. Therefore thou
art forever lost. Alas for me, unhappy soul
that I am ! Alas for me, now and for ever
more 1 Thou hast been the means of bringing me
to this endless misery. Therefore I execrate the
hour in which I first came to dwell with thee."
And then the body will answer the soul after this
manner : " O accursed soul, what right hast thou to
anathematize me, when thou art thyself the cause of
all this wretchedness ? Thou shouldst have ruled
me more firmly and held me back from evil, for it
was with this object that God united thee to me.
Instead of associating thyself with me in works of
penance, thou didst revel with me in sinful pleasures.
It is for me, therefore, to curse thee to all eternity,
because thou art the one who hast brought us both to
everlasting perdition." Thus soul and body will
mutually anathematize each other.

Such are the unhappy circumstances that will

On the Resurrection of the Dead. 47

attend the resurrection of the bodies of the damned
in all graveyards and cemeteries when they leave
the grave and enter upon a second life.

And now, reader, endeavor to imagine the shame
and confusion which will weigh those poor crea
tures to the ground when first they see each other
again. Husband and wife will meet, brothers and
sisters, parents and children, friends and acquaint
ances ; those who have lived in the same town or
the same village and have known each other from
childhood. Their shame will be so overwhelming
that they would prefer to endure any physical torture
than be exposed to it. And their bodies will be so
hideously ugly, so disgusting in appearance, that
they will shudder at the sight of one another. Who
can describe the mourning and lamentation that will
prevail amongst these hapless creatures! Their
misery is indeed unutterable.

Bethink thyself, whoever thou art who readest or
hearest this, what awful despair would seize upon
thee if thou wert amongst the number of these lost
souls. In what piteous tones thou wouldst bewail
with them thy hapless fate. " Alas ! what have we
done ? Woe to us most miserable ones ; would that
we had never been born ! Cursed be thou, my wife,
who didst provoke me to sin ! Cursed be you, my
children, who are the cause of my damnation!
Cursed be you, my friends and acquaintances, for
you were the occasion of this calamity that has come

48 The Last Judgment.

upon me ! Cursed forever be all those who have
b:en partners of my life and partners of my sin!"
Think over this, O sinner, and let your hard heart
be softened.

Whenever you pass by the cemetery of the place in
which you live, remember that perchance thou mayst
ere long be laid there to rest in the grave until the
general resurrection.

Wherefore make such good use of the brief period
of life, that thou mayst be numbered among the
just, and arise with them to everlasting felicity, and
not with the reprobate to everlasting torments.
Pray often thus in thy heart : " O most compassion
ate Lord Jesus, I implore Thee for the sake of Thy
bitter Passion and death, and through the Last Judg
ment at which Thou wilt be the Judge of the whole
world, grant me grace to live in such a manner that
at the resurrection I may arise with joy and not
with shame." Amen.

CHAPTER III.

ON THE MANNER IN WHICH THE GOOD AND THE
WICKED WILL BE CONDUCTED TO THE PLACE OF
JUDGMENT.

ACCORDING to the generally-received opinion the
final judgment will be held in the valley of Josaphat,
at no great distance from Jerusalem. This opinion
rests upon the words of the prophet Joel : "I will
gather together all nations, and bring them down
into the valley of Josaphat, and I will plead with
them there." And again : " Let the nations come
up into the valley of Josaphat, for there will I sit
to judge all nations round about " (Joel iii. 2, 12).

It is not difficult to allege a reason why Christ
should hold the final judgment there, for it is in the
neighborhood of the spot where He suffered, and
is it not just that in the same place He should appear
as our Judge ? Mount Olivet, the scene of His
agony, was also that of His glorious ascension.

It may, however, be objected, that the valley of

Josaphat could not contain the millions and millions

of human beings who will be gathered together for

judgment. But when a spot is indicated as the

4 49

50 The Last Judgment.

probable theatre of the Last Judgment, it does not
necessarily follow that all mankind will be crowded
into that narrow space.

We will now consider in what manner we shall be
assembled for the final judgment. If the good and
the evil are found together in the graveyards and else
where, that will come to pass which Our Lord pre
dicted : " So shall it be at the end of the world : the
angels shall go out, and shall separate the wicked
from among the just " (Matt. xiii. 49). For since the
good are laid to rest amongst the wicked, it follows
that at the resurrection they will be found amongst
the wicked. Accordingly, after the General Resur
rection the holy angels will come and separate the
elect from the reprobate. St. Paul, speaking of
this, says : " For the Lord Himself shall come down
from heaven with commandment, and with the voice
of an archangel and with the trumpet of God;
and the dead who are in Christ shall rise first.
Then we who are alive who are left, shall be taken
up together with them in the clouds to meet Christ
into the air" (i Thess. iv. 15, 16). All the good,
that is to say, will be carried on the clouds with
splendor and great glory by the angels to the place
of judgment.

Now imagine to thyself what a beautiful sight it
will be, when the saints with their glorified bodies,
shining like burnished gold in the sunlight, will be
transported through the air, escorted by their guard-

At the Place of Judgment. 51

ian angels ! With what exultation and rejoicing will
they pass on their triumphal way !

And when they all come together in the valley of
Josaphat, they will greet one another lovingly, and
embrace one another with mutual joy.

Think for a moment, O Christian, how thou
wouldst rejoice if thou wert so fortunate as to find
thyself amongst the number of the blessed. This
happiness is yet within thy reach ; if thou dost
really desire it with all the strength of thy will, thou
wilt be counted in this happy company. Bestir
thyself to fulfil all thy duties well and faithfully, and
thou too shalt one day join in that glorious and
triumphant procession.

We will now consider how the wicked shall be
transported to the valley of Josaphat, and what will
await them there. Alas ! their doom is so sorrow
ful, that I can scarcely venture to describe it in
detail. What will these unhappy sinners think,
what will they say, when they see the holy angels
taking the elect from their midst and carrying them
with glory and splendor through the air ? The Wise
Man gives us an insight into their thoughts when he
tells us : " These, seeing it, shall be troubled with
terrible fear and shall be amazed at the suddenness
of the unexpected salvation of the just ; saying
within themselves, repenting and groaning for an
guish of spirit : These are they whom we had some
time in derision, and for a parable of reproach. We

52 The Last Judgment.

fools esteemed their life madness and their end
without honor. Behold how they are numbered
among the children of God, and their lot is among
the saints " (Wisd. v. 2-5). How it will grieve them
to behold those whom they formerly despised so
utterly now honored and beloved by the angels of
God, and conducted by them in glory and triumph
to meet Christ. And they who once made such a
display of their riches, who despised all their fellow
creatures in their arrogant pride, now stand amongst
the fallen angels, poor, miserable, contemned.

When the angels have escorted all the elect to
the valley of Josaphat, they will proceed to drive all
the reprobate thither, with the evil spirits that are
mingled with them. They will cry with a loud
voice : " Away with you, away to judgment 1 The
Judge of the living and the dead commands you to
appear before Him."

What a piercing cry of anguish these unhappy
creatures will utter ! They will do their utmost
to resist the behest of the angels, but they will
struggle in vain ; they must obey the command
of God's messengers. Together with the evil spirits
the damned will be forcibly driven to the place of
judgment. What an awful journey ! The air is rent
with cries of rage. The spirits of darkness, with
diabolical malice and cruelty, already vent their
spite in tormenting the hapless creatures whom sin
has made their victims. Hear the shriek of despair

At the Place of Judgment. 53

wrung from the wretched beings : " Fools that we
were ! thoughtless fools ! Whither has the path of
transgression led us ? Alas ! it has brought us to
the severe, the terribly severe tribunal of God ! "

Listen, O sinner, to the sorrowful lamentations and
self-accusations of these poor creatures. Beware
lest thou too shouldst be of their number. Pray
God to preserve you from so shocking a doom, and
say : " Most merciful God, remember at how great
a price Thou didst purchase me, and how much
Thou didst suffer for me. For the sake of that
inestimable price do not permit me to be lost, rescue
me, number me amongst the sheep of Thy fold.
With them I will then praise and magnify Thy loving
kindness to all eternity."

CHAPTER IV.

HOW ALL MEN WILL AWAIT CHRIST'S COMING IN THE
VALE OF JOSAPHAT.

LET us now contemplate the multitudes gathered
together in the place of judgment. All mankind,
every human being who has ever lived upon earth,
as well as all the rebellious spirits who were cast out
of heaven, will be compelled to appear here before
the judgment seat of Christ.

Who can attempt to enumerate these countless
multitudes ? The number of the earth's inhabitants
living at this present moment amounts to about
1,400,000,000. This vast multitude will have dis
appeared in less than half a century, and another
generation, no less numerous, will have taken
their place and filled the earth anew. So it will
go on and on until the Last Day. What countless
hosts there will be arraigned before the judgment
seat of Christ 1

The good will be all together, rejoicing in the

certainty of their eternal salvation. They are

adorned with glorious apparel, and shine like the

stars of heaven. They know one another, they

54

How all Men will Await Christ's Coming. 55

p*eet one another, and exchange mutual congratu-
Ations respecting their happy lot.

Not so the wicked. The good stand on the right
hand, and they upon the left. Unfortunately the num
ber of the wicked is far, far larger than that of the
good. Both before and after the coming of Christ
the prince of darkness held sway over a much
greater number of subjects than Christ Himself.
Alas ! my God, what an immense multitude there
will be on the left hand ! The mourning and misery
amongst them will be so unparalleled that the good
who are on the right hand would, were it possible,
be deeply touched with compassion.

For all these countless millions of human beings
will pour out their excessive sorrow and anguish in
piteous lamentations. Awaiting the coming of the
supreme Judge, they stand together, apart from the
just, full of confusion at their own hideousness, and
especially at their sinfulness, now evident to all.

Yet above and beyond all this misery is the con
sternation that prevails on account of the coming of
the Judge ; it is beyond the power of words to
express. For now these unhappy creatures first
become fully aware how terrible are the judgments
of God, which they during their lifetime heeded so
little. Now for the first time they recognize what a
fearful disgrace it is for them to have their sins
made manifest in the presence of all the angels and
saints, in the presence likewise of the devils and of

56 The Last Judgment.

the lost. Now for the first time they are conscious
of the awful nature of the sentence that will be
passed on them by the Judge whom they have often
insolently set at naught. These and many other
things contribute to imbue them with such an unut
terable dread of the coming of their Judge, that they
quake in every limb with terror, and almost swoon
away with apprehension and alarm. They will say to
one another in plaintive tones : " Alas, what have we
done ! How terribly we have deceived ourselves !
For the sake of the few and transitory joys of earth,
we must undergo an eternity of anguish. What
good are all the riches, the voluptuous pleasures,
the pride, the honors of the world to us now ? We
fools have trifled away celestial and eternal goods
for the poor and paltry things of earth. Alas, what
will become of us when our Judge appears ! Ye
mountains, fall on us, and ye hills, cover us, for truly
it would be less intolerable for us to be crushed un
der your weight, than to stand before the whole
world covered with shame and confusion, and behold
the wrathful countenance of the just Judge ! "

Unhappy sinner, whoever thou art who readest
this book, do not flatter thyself with the vain hope
that this description of the misery of the lost is ex
aggerated. They will complain a thousand times
more loudly, and their pain and misery will be unut
terable. Avail thyself of the short and precious
season of thy earthly existence, do penance, do now

How all Men will Await Christ's Coming. 57

all that thou wouldst desire to have done at the Day
of Judgment. Ask of God grace to amend thy sinful
life, in order that the day of Christ's coming may not
be a day of unspeakable terror to thee.

My God, I acknowledge that by my sinful life I
have deserved to be banished from Thy presence
forever. Yet I sincerely repent of my sins and
pray Thee for the grace of a true conversion, so
that I may not await Thy coming among the num
ber of the lost. Amen.

CHAPTER V.

ON THE APPEARANCE OF CHRIST'S CROSS IN THE
HEAVENS.

WHEN all mankind are assembled in the valley of
Josaphat, the prediction of Our Lord will be fulfilled :
«' Men withering away for fear, and expectation of
what shall come upon the whole earth." For they
will be in such anxiety and terror in anticipation of
the approaching judgment that, if such a thing
were possible, they would faint away. They will
look up to the heavens continually with fear and
trembling, and every moment that the coming of the
dreaded Judge is delayed will serve to increase their
apprehension of this advent. At length the heav
ens will be opened, and the sign of Christ's trium
phant victory, the sign of the holy cross, will be
carried down by a host of angels and exhibited to
the whole world.

These are Our Lord's words in regard to this
mystery : " The powers of heaven shall be moved,
and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in
heaven, and then shall all tribes of the earth
mourn " (Matt. xxiv. 29, 30). The Catholic Church
58

The Appearance of Christ 's Cross in the Heavens. 59

teaches us what this sign will be, which is to appear
in heaven : The sign of the cross will appear in
heaven, when the Lord shall come to judgment.
All the Fathers concur in interpreting this sign
which will be displayed in the heavens as the cross
of Christ. Although the cross whereon Our Lord
suffered is now divided into innumerable little pieces,
into particles even, yet by divine power it will once
more form a complete whole. It will be carried
down from heaven by the angels with solemn pomp ;
and the angels who bear it will be followed by
others, who, as the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas
Aquinas, maintains, will carry all the other instru
ments of the Passion ; that is to say, the pillar,
the lance, the scourges, the hammer, the iron
glove, the dice, the scarlet robe, the white robe,
the seamless tunic, the holy winding-sheet, the
vessel containing myrrh and all the other in
struments that were employed during the Passion,
and the object of this will be to make manifest to
the whole world how many and manifold were the
pains Christ suffered for our sakes.

Now when all mankind behold the holy cross and
all the other sacred instruments of the Passion shin
ing like the sun at midday, for the cross of Christ
will gleam with a light of unexampled brilliance,
those who are waiting below will stand in trembling
fear and woeful lamentation. For the sight of the
holy cross and the other instruments of torture will

60 The Last Judgment.

recall to their mind all the grievous pains that Our
Lord endured, and indeed in so forcible and vivid
a manner, that His whole Passion will seem to be
re-enacted before them. Then the bitterest remorse
will fill the heart of the wicked. But this remorse,
how great and how deep soever it may be, will be
futile. It comes too late. This remorse is the
companion of despair. In their anguish of soul and
their despair they will exclaim with Cain, the frat
ricide : " My iniquity is greater than that I may
deserve pardon ; " or with Judas, who betrayed his
Lord and Master : " I have sinned, in betraying
innocent blood." Yes, all the lost will concur in
exclaiming, " Alas ! we have sinned in betraying
innocent blood. We have tortured, we have cruci
fied, we have put the Son of God to death by our
sins." Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn,
for they will perceive how grievously they have
offended against God, but the cries of mourning and
despair prevailing everywhere will be in vain.
What will the unfortunate heathen say, who have
never heard, never known anything about Christ's
Passion ? They will bitterly bewail and lament their
ignorance, saying : " Alas ! we unhappy ones, had we
but known this, we should never have come to this
misery. Had we but known'that the great and
infinite God did and suffered so much for us, how
grateful we should have been to Him, how willingly
we would have served Him ! We were deluded by

The Appearance of Chris fs Cross in the Heavens. 6 1

our false gods. We saw in them no virtues, only
vile and vicious deeds. Against the promptings of
conscience we imitated their vices, and hence we
are damned. We cannot complain, or think our
selves wronged by the holy and just God, because
we are amongst the reprobate. If only we had heark
ened to the voice of our conscience, this would not
have been our fate."

But what will those say who put Christ to death ?
Pilate, Caiphas, Annas, the high priest, as well as
the Jews who cried : " Crucify Him ! " and " His
blood be upon us and upon our children," all who
took part in the cruel, atrocious crime of crucifying
their God, will at the sight of the sacred instruments
of the Passion shriek aloud in despair and desire to
be annihilated. Execrated and cursed even by the
damned, they will stand there, branded as deicides,
objects of abhorrence to the whole world.

It is not my intention to discuss what bad Chris
tians, who have blasphemed the Son of God by
word or deed, will feel at that time ; for brevity's
sake I leave thee, reader, to meditate upon it for
thyself. Only one thing I would ask of thee ; re
flect upon this, what thou wouldst say, what thou
wouldst most deeply regret, if thou wert amongst
the number of the damned, and didst then perceive
that thou hadst been the cause of Christ's sufferings
and hadst crucified Him by thy sins. Couldst
thou now feel in thy heart something of the contri-

62 The Last Judgment.

tion which would then pierce thy soul, assuredly
thou wouldst never again for the remainder of thy
life commit any heinous sin. Couldst thou now
mourn over the sufferings of Christ with expressions
of such poignant sorrow as would then rise to thy
lips, thou wouldst infallibly obtain the remission of
thy sins. Wherefore, frequently adore thy crucified
Saviour, call to mind His sufferings for thy sake,
and recite the following prayer :

O faithful Redeemer of the world, who didst endure
such unspeakable sufferings for me, a miserable
sinner, I pray Thee let not Thy bitter Passion and
Thy death upon the cross be unavailing for me.
Impress the remembrance of them deeply upon my
heart, that I may have them ever before my mind,
and may avoid sin which was the cause of Thy suf
fering. Thus when Thy cross shall appear bright
and shining in the heavens on the Day of Judg
ment, may it not be to me a sign of damnation, but
of salvation, a sign of Thy mercy and of Thy love.
Amen.

CHAPTER VI.

ON THE ADVENT OF THE JUDGE.

WHAT we have hitherto heard, O Christian reader,
is indeed most fearful and terrible, but it is nothing
in comparison with what we are now about to con
sider. For the coming of the Judge will be so
awful, so dreadful, that all that is in heaven or upon
earth will tremble and quake. The power and
majesty wherewith He will come is beyond the
power of words to describe. In order that we may
know something concerning it, and be able to form
some conception of it, Christ has Himself foretold His
coming in these words : " When the Son of man
shall come in His majesty, and all the angels with
Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His maj
esty, and all nations shall be gathered together be
fore Him " (Matt. xxv. 31,32). And again : ' ' They
shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of
heaven with much power and majesty " (xxiv. 30).
Thus we see Our Lord twice asserts that He will
come in the clouds of heaven, attended by all His
angels, in great might and majesty.

Who can depict the greatness of that power,

63

64 The Last Judgment.

the splendor of that majesty, the countless number
of those angelic hosts 1 Listen to what the Psalmist
says on the subject : " A fire shall go before Him
and shall burn His enemies round about. His light
nings have shone forth to the world, the earth saw
and trembled. The mountains melted like wax at the
presence of the Lord, at the presence of the Lord of
the whole earth. The heavens declared His justice
and all people saw His glory " (Ps. xcvi. 3-6). And
in another psalm we read : " Out of Sion the love
liness of His beauty shall shine forth. ... A fire
shall burn before Him, and a mighty tempest shall
be round about Him " (xlix. 2). The prophet Isaias
also predicts the advent of the Judge in the follow
ing terms : " Behold, the Lord will come with fire,
and His chariots are like a whirlwind, to render His
wrath in indignation and His rebuke with flames of
fire" (Is. Ixvi. 15). Moreover, Christ Himself
declares : "As lightning cometh out of the east, and
appeareth even into the west : so shall also the com
ing of the Son of man be " (Matt. xxiv. 27).

If such be the manner in which the Judge shall
come, if flames of fire proceed from His counte
nance, if He descends from heaven in a fiery char
iot, armed with wrath against sinners, who but
must tremble at His coming ! We shall in fact, all
falter and be afraid. Besides the terrors of the
Judge Himself, the sight of the innumerable com
pany of angels that will descend with Him, will in-

The Advent of the Judge. 65

spire us with awe and great alarm. For on that day
not one angel will remain in heaven ; they will all be
present as witnesses of the judgment. Now, theo
logians maintain that in the lowest choir of angels
the number of angels is ten times greater than that
of all the human beings that have ever existed upon
earth. In the second choir there are ten times as
many as in the first, in the third ten times as many
as in the second, and so on, so that the number
of these angelic beings appears endless. All these
angels, who are pure spirits and therefore invisi
ble to bodily sight, will then appear visible, exceed
ingly bright and glorious, so that the damned also
may see the magnificence of Christ's advent.

St. John in his Apocalypse speaks thus of the
hosts of angels that will attend upon the Judge
at His coming : " I saw heaven opened, and behold
a white horse; and He that sat upon him was
called faithful and true, and with justice doth He
judge and fight. And His eyes were as a flame of
fire, and on His head were many diadems ; . . .
and He was clothed with a garment sprinkled with
blood, and His name is called : The word of God.

" And the armies that are in heaven followed Him
on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and
clean. And out of His mouth proceedeth a sharp
two-edged sword, that with it He may strike the
nations. And He shall rule them with a rod of iron ;
and He treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness of
5

66 The Last Judgment.

the wrath of God the almighty. And He hath on
His garment and on His thigh written : King of
kings, and Lord of lords " (Apoc. xix. 11-16).

How we all shall tremble, O my God, when we
behold these hosts of celestial spirits with their
kingly leader 1

The prophet Daniel once saw an angel, and he
was so terror-struck at his appearance, that he fell
to the ground like one dead. If such an effect was
produced on him by the sight of a single angel,
whose errand was one of comfort and consolation,
what will become of us, when so many hundreds of
thousands of heavenly princes draw nigh to us
with wrathful countenances ? St. Ephrem, speak
ing of this says : " The angels will stand there with
a menacing mien, their eyes flashing with the sacred
fire of just indignation, roused by the iniquities of
mankind."

Now if the sight of the angels alone, who will
come to judgment with the divine Judge, is so ter
rible, what will be the fear and dread inspired by
the Judge Himself, when He comes in all the wrath
of offended justice ! As in heaven there is no
greater delight than the contemplation of God, so
at the Last Judgment there will be no greater pain
than to look upon the angry Judge. Before
entering upon an explanation of this, let us see
with what majesty Christ will come to judgment.

The advent of Christ will be so terrible that

The Advent of the Judge. 67

neither man nor angel is capable of describing it
aright. For all that is most calculated to appal the
sinner will be here seen, and nothing will be want
ing that can enhance the majesty of Christ. When
a monarch makes his entry into a town, what
pomp and splendor is displayed there ! Strains of
lively music mingle with the more solemn peal of
bells, salutes are fired, the whole population is astir,
every one straining his eyes to see the monarch ;
first come his servants, then his counsellors, then
the nobles of the land ; lastly he comes himself,
surrounded by a vast multitude of people.

Yet what is all this magnificence the world can
offer when compared with the majesty which will
attend the coming of the King of kings ! Compare
a poor ragged beggar-boy with a sovereign prince
who enters riding in a chariot of gold, and we have
a feeble and insufficient image of the difference that
exists between the pomp and splendor of this world
and the glory wherewith Christ will come to judgment.

Yet His advent will not merely be grand and
glorious beyond measure, it will likewise be awful
in its nature. If the graves opened at the blast of
the angel's trumpet, and the sound of that trumpet
re-echoed throughout the whole world, what a panic
of fear will seize upon mankind when the angels
who precede Christ's triumphal car cause the sound
of their trumpets to be heard !

" What," asks St. Augustine, " will become of us

68 The Last Judgment.

on that dreadful day, the Day of Judgment, when the
Lord shall descend with His angels with the sound
of trumpets, and the whole earth shall tremble with
fear ? "

When God came down of old upon Mount Sinai,
we read in Holy Scripture : " Now the third day
was come and the morning appeared ; and behold
thunders began to be heard, and lightning to flash,
and a very thick cloud to cover the mount, and the
noise of the trumpet sounded exceeding loud, and
the people that was in the camp feared." And when
all the people heard the thunder and the sound of the
trumpet, and saw the lightning and the smoke aris
ing from out of the mount, they were terrified, and
withdrew to a distance, saying to Moses : " Speak
thou to us and we will do all things that the Lord
hath commanded, but let not the Lord speak to us
lest we die " (Exod. xx. 19).

If all this happened when God came down from
heaven to give His law to the Hebrew nation, and
adopt them as His children, what, thinkest thou, O
Christian, will be the case when He comes to require
an account of the manner in which His command
ments have been kept ? If the children of Israel
were so terrified at the giving of the law that they
thought they should die of fear, what cause shall
not we mortals, we Christians especially, have to
tremble, since we have so often wilfully transgressed
the commandments of God !

The Advent of the Judge. 69

O God, almighty Judge of all men, Thou wilt
descend from heaven at the Last Day with great
power and majesty, to act in Thy character of Judge,
and the thought of Thy coming causes me to quake
with fear. Inspire me now, I beseech Thee, with
salutary fear, so that I may avoid sin, and may not
merit to be crushed by Thy just anger. Amen.

CHAPTER VII.

ON THE MANNER IN WHICH CHRIST WILL TAKE HIS
PLACE ON THE JUDGMENT-SEAT.

PAY heed, O reader, to what is now coming, and do
not imagine that it concerns thee not. Thou wilt
most assuredly witness it all one day with thy bodily
eyes, and all will be a thousand times more terrible
than my pen can depict it.

When Christ, in His chariot of fire, has reached
Mount Olivet, He will pause in the air, at such a
height that He can be clearly seen by all men, until
the angels have prepared the throne of judgment.

The prophet Daniel thus portrays the scene : " I
beheld till thrones were placed, and the Ancient of
days sat ; His garment was white as snow and the
hair of His head like clean wool ; His throne like
flames of fire, the wheels of it like a burning fire. A
swift stream of fire issued forth from before Him ;
thousands of thousands ministered to Him, and ten
times a hundred thousand stood before Him : the
judgment sat and the books were opened " (Dan.
vii. 9, 10).

But Christ will not sit in judgment alone ; the
70

Christ's Judgment-seat. 71

twelve apostles will be with Him, according to the
promise He gave them : " Amen I say to you, that
you who have followed Me, in the regeneration,
when the Son of man shall sit on the seat of His
majesty, you also shall sit on twelve seats judging
the twelve tribes of Israel " (Matt. xix. 28).

Who can give any idea of the magnificence of
Christ's throne ? It beggars all description.

We read that King Solomon caused a wonderfully
beautiful throne to be constructed out of ivory,
richly adorned with gold and precious stones. This
throne was so magnificent that the inspired writer
says of it that in no kingdom of the world had any
such work been made. If the judgment-seat of
King Solomon was composed of such costly material
and fashioned so skilfully, what will be the splendor
of the judgment-seat of the King of kings, on which
He will sit in His majesty to judge the whole world !
Our Lord speaks of this judgment-seat as a throne
of great splendor, when He says : " When the Son
of man shall come in His majesty, and all the angels
with Him, then shall He sit upon the seat of His
majesty" (Matt. xxv. 31).

Some idea of what the appearance of this throne
will be may be gathered from the words which have
just been quoted from the prophet Daniel, and also
this description given by St. John : " There was a
rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an
emerald. . . . And from the throne proceeded light-

7 2 The Last Judgment.

nings, and voices, and thunders ; and there were seven
lamps burning before the throne " (Apoc. iv. 3-5).

Such are the images whereby Holy Scripture
portrays the judgment-seat of Christ. Who of all
mankind can venture to raise his eyes to this fiery
throne ? Will it not be more dazzlingly bright than
the lightnings and fiery flashes of a tempest ?

The divine Judge will seat Himself upon this
throne and His grave countenance will be visible to
men and angels. All created beings will tremble
with awestruck reverence. St. John declares this
in the Apocalypse : "I saw a great white throne,
and One sitting upon it, from whose face the earth
and heaven fled away, and there was no place found
for them " (Apoc. xx. 1 1). In these words the prophet
of the New Testament appears to indicate that the
heavens and the earth will not be able to bear to
meet the eye of their Judge ; that all rational beings,
both angels and men, will quake at the sight of His
stern countenance.

That the angels also will fear and tremble, is
asserted by St. Augustine, in the following passage
from his writings : " When Our Lord says that the
powers of heaven shall be moved, He alludes to the
angels ; for so terrible will the judgment be, that
the angels will not be exempt from fear ; they too
will tremble and be afraid. For just as when a
judge sits in judgment his grave countenance not
only strikes terror into the culprits before him, but

Chris fs Judgment-seat. 73

over-awes the officials standing around, so when
all mankind are brought to judgment the celestial
ministers will share the universal horror and alarm."
St. John Chrysostom corroborates this statement,
when he says : " Every one will then be filled with
astonishment, with apprehension, with terror, for
even the angels will be sore afraid."

Many other Fathers of the Church and com
mentators upon Holy Scripture express a similar
opinion.

Now if, according to the opinion of learned and
holy men even the angels will not be without fear in
the Day of Judgment, how much greater cause will
the saints have to fear, since they must stand before
Christ's tribunal, and give a strict account of all
their actions. Yes, it is unmistakably evident, from
what St. John says in the Apocalypse, that the
blessed saints are struck with awe and trembling.
He describes how Christ appeared to him, and the
effect it had upon him. " When I had seen Him, I
fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right
hand upon me, saying, Fear not. I am the First and
the Last." If the beloved apostle was so awestruck
at the sight of his dear Master and Lord, who had
come to console and not to judge him, that he fell
at His feet as if dead, and could not summon up
courage to rise to his feet until Christ spoke to him
in the kindest and most comforting manner, can it
be supposed that the saints will not be terrified on

74 The Last Judgment.

the Day of Judgment, when they behold Christ in
His awful majesty and are called upon to give to
Him an account of their whole life ? And, O poor
sinner, how will it then fare with thee, and with all
the reprobate, if even the angels and saints tremble
at the coming of the Judge ? Words cannot express
the terror and dismay of evil spirits and unrepentant
sinners, when they shall behold their divine Judge
on the throne of His majesty, and know that He
will rigorously judge and condemn them to hell for
all eternity.

In order to give some idea of the terrible dread
and alarm of the fallen angels and of unhappy sin
ners, let us hear what Holy Scripture says concern
ing the appalling exterior of the Judge and the
greatness of His anger, in the first chapter of the
Apocalypse, where St. John tells us : "I saw the
Son of man clothed in a garment down to the feet
and girt about the breast with a golden girdle. His
head and His hairs were white as white wool and as
snow, and His eyes were as a flame of fire, and His
feet like unto fine brass, as in a burning furnace.
And His voice as the sound of many waters. And
from His mouth came out a sharp two-edged sword,
and His face was as the sun shineth in His power.
Upon His head were many diadems, and He was
clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood. He
treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness of the wrath
of God the almighty, and He hath on His garment

Chrisfs Judgment-seat. 75

and His thigh written : King of kings and Lord of
lords."

Meditate upon these wondrous words, O Chris
tian, and picture to thyself thy future Judge in
vivid colors. How could His majestic appearance
be described more forcibly than in the words we
have just quoted ?

What must be the splendor of that countenance
which is said to shine as the sun at its meridian !
what must be the brilliance of those eyes which
glow with holy fervor like flames of fire ! what
the force of that voice which has the sound of a
volume of waters ! what must be the keenness
of that tongue which cuts like a two-edged sword 1
what a glorious head that must be which is
adorned with many costly diadems ! How terrible
that garment must be to look upon which is
sprinkled with blood ! And what the dignity of
that regal name : The King of kings and Lord of
lords 1 How frightened we all shall be, what fear
and woe will overtake us when our Judge looks
upon us ! And imagine what the feelings of the
damned will be, when they behold the Judge of
all their wicked deeds ; how they will quail and
quake beneath His gaze in the hour of His just
wrath !

We shall perhaps form a better conception of
what the wrath of God is, if we listen to what the
prophet Isaias says concerning it :

76 The Last Judgment.

" Behold the name of the Lord cometh from afar,
His wrath burneth, and is heavy to bear ; His lips are
filled with indignation, and His tongue as a devour
ing fire ; His breath as a torrent overflowing even
to the midst of the neck, to destroy the nations
into nothing " (Is. xxx. 27, 28).

These are of a truth terrible words. Do they
not clearly indicate with what great wrath Christ
will manifest Himself to the world ? Well may all
unhappy sinners be overwhelmed with terror and
dismay and anguish ; well may they cry to the
mountains to fall on them and the hills to cover
them.

Now when the Judge is seated upon the throne
of His majesty, all who are assembled in the val
ley of Josaphat, angels and devils, the redeemed
and the lost, will all have to adore Christ, as St.
Paul says : " We shall all stand before the judg
ment-seat of Christ. For it is written : As I live,
saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and
every tongue shall confess to God " (Rom.
xiv. 10, n).

How solemn and how sublime a scene will then
be enacted, O my God, when all the millions
and thousands of millions of angels, together with
the blessed, in visible form will prostrate them
selves upon the ground, and the evil spirits with
their unhappy victims, and all the damned, will be
forced against their will to adore Christ and ac-

Christ's Judgment-seat. 77

knowledge Him as their God and Judge ! These
wretched creatures will fall on their knees, and bend
their heads down to the earth, not daring to raise
their eyes, lest they should encounter the angry
glance of their Judge. They will lament and
bewail, filled with unutterable consternation and dis
may. Gladly would they have the earth open and
swallow them up, nay, they would, if it were pos
sible, cast themselves down into a bottomless
abyss rather than suffer such humiliation.

Pause and consider, O sinner, what thy feelings
would be if thou wert amid the number of these lost
souls ; thou wouldst be overwhelmed with sorrow
and distress.

St. Vincent relates that a young man of disso
lute life once dreamed that he was arraigned before
the judgment-seat of God, and required to give
an account of his ill-spent life. His terror was so
great that it turned his hair perfectly white. If the
terrors of the Last Judgment experienced only in a
dream were sufficient to turn the color of that
young man's hair, what, thinkest thou, will be the
eff ect they will produce on thee and on me, when we
are present, not in a dream, but in reality, at the Last
Judgment, and with our bodily eyes we behold our
Judge in all His holy indignation ?

O most just Judge, look down, I beseech Thee,
from Thy throne in heaven upon me, a poor sinner,
and for the sake of Thine infinite compassion be

78 The Last Judgment.

merciful to me in the day of final judgment. I
know that I shall not be able to stand in that dread
day, but by Thy just sentence I shall be condemned
to eternal damnation. Yet I know also that if a
sinner implores mercy of Thee in the time of grace,
it will not be denied him. Therefore I entreat
Thee with deep humility and contrition, through
Thy bitter Passion, that Thou wouldst pardon my
sins and pass a lenient sentence upon me in the Day
of Judgment. Amen.

CHAPTER VIII.

ON THE REASON WHY CHRIST'S APPEARANCE ON THE
DAY OF FINAL JUDGMENT WILL BE TERRIBLE, AND
ON THE HEINOUSNESS OF MORTAL SIN.

THE reader may, perchance, be inclined to ask
the reason why Christ, the same Christ who lived
amongst us on earth in all gentleness and meek
ness, should wear so terrible an aspect when He
comes to be our Judge ? There are a great many
reasons why Christ in this capacity should judge
mankind with such awful severity. The principal
one is because He has been most grievously out
raged by the sins of men.

Theologians assert that every mortal sin is in
itself an infinite evil, and is an infinite affront to
the divine majesty. It is an offence of such mag
nitude that neither the tongue of angels nor of men
is capable of describing it. It will be understood,
therefore, that as in every mortal sin there is malice
of so deep a dye, it must deeply wound the Divine
Heart of Jesus, and provoke Him to just anger
against the individual who has been guilty of that
sin. And in order that it may be more apparent
how just the ire of God is, when roused by mortal
79

So The Last Judgment.

sin, it will be well to explain more clearly how
great is the insult offered to God by wilful sin.
Imagine the three divine persons of the Most Holy
Trinity to be on one side, with their infinite treas
ures of grace and glory, and on the other side the
spirit of evil with all the punishments and torments
of hell ; and a man standing in the midst betwixt
the two, debating within himself whether he should
show honor to God by doing His will, or whether
he should act in violation of His will, and thereby
cause the devil to rejoice. If the man commits the
sin, he acts towards God, and God regards his
action, exactly as if he uttered these blasphemous
words, or others of the same nature :

" I do indeed believe, O God, that I was created
by Thy almighty power, redeemed by Thy mercy,
made a child of predilection by Thy bounty , I know
that Thou hast promised me eternal life, all the
sweetest bliss of heaven. I am also well aware that
this accursed Satan, Thy great enemy and mine, is
prepared to strip me of all that is good, and hurl
me down into everlasting perdition. And yet be
cause Satan tempts me now, because he suggests
to me a thought of unchastity, a desire for revenge,
a movement of envy, I choose rather to yield to this
impulse and thereby render myself deserving of
everlasting punishment, than resist and repel the
evil suggestion and thus merit heaven hereafter and
spiritual graces now. Therefore, I deliberately

The Heinousness of Mortal Sin. 81

and of my own free will, turn from Thee, O God ;
I follow by choice this hateful demon, whom I obey
in preference to Thee.

" Although Thou art my God and my Lord, al
though Thou hast forbidden us to transgress Thy
law, although sin is an infinite offence against Thee,
yet I do not care, I will commit sin all the same, I
will not desist because it is an outrage to Thee.
Nay, more, if I could do all that in the malice of
my heart I would do, I should rob Thee of Thy God
head, I should cast Thee down from Thy throne,
and in Thy place I should set up sin, and worship
that as my god. I love sin, I desire to revel in it,
and find in it my sole happiness."

Such blasphemies as these words express are
terrible, and cannot be read without a shudder.
Yet every man who wilfully and in defiance of God's
law commits a mortal sin is guilty of blaspheming
God in the like manner. What wonder, then, that
God is so deeply offended by mortal sin. But we
have not yet shown the full extent of the malice of sin
— it goes still farther ; it is doubly offensive to God
because the sinner not only manifests contempt for
God the Father, he also sets at naught His beloved
Son, the Second Person of the divine Trinity. By
every wilful sin he seems to say : " It is true Thou
didst become man for me, Thou didst seek for me
for three and thirty years, as a sheep that was lost ;
Thou didst endure hunger and thirst, heat and
6

82 The Last Judgment.

cold, and all manner of hardships for my sake,
whilst Satan has done nothing of the sort for me ;
on the contrary, he pursues me day and night and
strives to ensnare me. In spite of this I prefer to
belong to him rather than to Thee. I prefer to
please him, and grieve Thee.

" It it true, O my Redeemer, that for my sake Thou
wast torn with scourges, crowned with thorns, fast
ened with nails to the cross and put to death amid
bitter tortures; yet for all this I offer Thee no
thanks. Nay more, although I know that by my
sins I scourge Thee, I crucify Thee, I put Thee to
death anew, yet I will not forsake my sins ; I will
trample upon Thy precious blood, I will adore Satan
instead of Thee ; I will make him my dearest friend
and do my utmost to give him pleasure."

Again I ask, are not these utterances blasphe
mous in the extreme ? Do they not show the black
est ingratitude on the part of the sinner towards his
Saviour ? One can scarcely imagine that a Christian
would grieve his Redeemer in so shameful a manner.
And yet there are many thousands who, if not in
words, yet in deeds, address such language to their
Saviour.

In the third place, the audacious sinner outrages
and defies the Holy Spirit of God, for his actions
are equivalent to expressions such as these : " Thou,
O Holy Ghost, hast certainly sanctified my soul,
cleansed it in the blood of Christ and beautified it

The Heinousness of Mortal Sin. 83

by Thy grace. I know that Thy sanctifying grace
is so precious that every soul which is adorned by
it thereby becomes a daughter of the heavenly
Father, a sister of the divine Son, a spouse of the
Holy Ghost, the dwelling-place of the Most Holy
Trinity, a temple of the sovereign Godhead, an heir
of eternal felicity, a friend of angels and saints,
yet what do I trouble myself about these exalted
prerogatives, what do I care for this priceless pearl,
this costly jewel ? Away with them ; I will cast this
pearl, this jewel to the dogs and swine, to wit, my
evil passions. I will sacrifice all to them, I will
serve sin and live in sin."

Seest thou not now, O reader, how hateful sin is,
how shocking the nature of the sinner, how infinite
the offence against God, the contempt of God which
is inseparable from sin ? Art thou not convinced
that God has just cause to feel holy indignation
against sin and the slaves of sin, and to condemn
the sinner to everlasting damnation ?

And if the wrath of God, who is infinite in sanc
tity and justice, is aroused to such an extent by one
single mortal sin, how greatly must He, the just and
holy One, be angered and offended by the millions
upon millions of shameless and shameful sins daily
committed not only by Jews and heathens, but also
by Christians 1 All this anger, all this sense of out
raged dignity at insult offered, which the sinner
arouses within the Heart of God, is treasured up

84 The Last Judgment.

until the Day of Judgment. The holy sacrifice of
the Mass and the powerful intercession of the saints
as yet restrains the divine arm from executing ven
geance.

But when mankind have filled up the measure of
their iniquities, the day of wrath shall come. No
one can form a conception of how awful the out
pouring of the wrath of God upon sinners will be.
In the Psalms we read : " Who knoweth the power
of Thy anger, and for Thy fear can number Thy
wrath?" (Ps. Ixxxix. u.)

Woe, then, to us poor sinners ! Then for the first
time we shall appreciate aright what we have done
and how deeply we have offended God by our
grievous sins. The wrath of God is so bound
less that neither the Mother of God, nor all the
angels and saints have any power to diminish OT
restrain it ; it will turn with holy zeal and mete out
to every man his deserts with rigorous justice. Hear
what the Judge Himself says of this, His wrath, by
the mouth of the prophet Ezechiel : " Now, thou son
of man, is an end come upon thee, and I will send
My wrath upon thee, and I will judge thee accord
ing to thy ways, and I will set all thy abominations
against thee, and My eye shall not spare thee, and I
will show thee no pity " (Ezech. vii. 3, 4).

These are truly terrible words, and the threat
they contain is most appalling. Oh, how unsparing
will be the judgment to which God, who has been

The Heinousness of Mortal Sin. 85

offended by transgressions so innumerable, will
summon all mankind.

Alas for me and for thee, if we find ourselves
amid the countless multitude of sinners, and God
cannot in justice spare us ! What shall we do, that
we may not fall into the hands of the angry Judge ?

We must abandon the way of iniquity, and now,
while there is yet time, make our peace with the
Judge whom we have offended. Let us awaken from
time to time sincere contrition for our sins, employ
ing these or similar expressions of sorrow :

Most just Judge of the living and the dead, I
acknowledge before Thee that I have sinned often
and grievously. I have forsaken my Father in
heaven ; I have crucified Thee, my Redeemer ;
I have grieved the Holy Spirit and trifled away
His grace. I have done this by the countless
sins I have committed in thought, word and deed.
Through my transgressions I have incurred the
penalty of everlasting death. But since Thou wili
est not the death of the sinner, but rather that he
should do penance and live, let me experience here
the effect of Thy justice, which is ever wedded to
mercy. All the trials that Thou sendest me in this
life I will thankfully receive from Thy hand, and
kiss the rod whereby Thou dost chastise me with
paternal1 severity in order that at the Day of Judg
ment I may find mercy, and Thou mayst grant me
a place in the ranks of Thine elect. Amen.

CHAPTER IX.

ON THE MANNER IN WHICH THE FINAL JUDGMENT
WILL BE COMMENCED.

WHILST the angels and saints, besides all the com
pany of the devils and the damned, are prostrate
before their Judge in lowly adoration, He will open
His lips, and with a loud voice utter these or similar
words : " Listen, ye heavens, to My voice ; listen, O
earth, to the words that I shall speak ; listen, ye
angels, listen, ye demons, listen, also, all ye sinners,
for I announce to each and all of you that I, Jesus
Christ, the true Son of God and of the Virgin Mary,
your Creator, your Redeemer, your sovereign Lord,
am about to exercise my office of Judge.

" With infinite patience I have borne with your
innumerable iniquities : the time of grace is now
past, the time of justice has come. Every one shall
be rewarded according to his works. Those who
have done good shall presently go with Me into
eternal life, and those who have done evil shall be
cast into the abyss of everlasting torment and
anguish. All creation shall see and acknowledge
that I am a just God, that I judge not according to
86

The Final Judgment Commenced. 87

appearances, but according to the measure of that
which each man has deserved."

Some such words as these will proceed out of the
mouth of the Judge, and they will be pronounced
with such majesty that all men will quake and
tremble. All miserable sinners will begin to weep
and wail afresh, so that the very earth might be
moved with compassion. " Alas for us poor
wretches," they will exclaim with one voice, " how
can we stand before the face of our Judge 1 Moun
tains, fall on us, and rocks, cover us, and hide us
from the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne,
and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great
day of their wrath is come, and who shall be able
to stand ? "

And since at every tribunal an accuser must be
present, to bring charges against the individual who
is to be judged, so at this general judgment the
angels and the devils will be the accusers of man
kind. St. Michael will first stand forth and say :
" Most just Judge, I bring an accusation against these
millions of sinners, who defiled the earth to such an
extent by their misdeeds, that Thou in Thy holy in
dignation didst see fit to purify it by fire ; I call
upon Thee now to punish these transgressors ac
cording to Thy justice."

Then Lucifer, speaking in the name of all the evil
spirits, will raise his voice with a roar like that of a
lion, and accuse all mankind in a body : " Most just

88 The Last Judgment.

Judge of the living and the dead, I bring a charge
against all the human beings assembled here.
Since it seemed right to Thy stern justice to banish
me and all the angels who joined with me from
heaven on account of one single sin, and to con
demn us to everlasting damnation, it is only fair
that Thou shouldst include all mankind in the same
condemnation with myself, and cast all men here
present into the abyss of hell. For there is not one
single individual here who has not committed sin,
and trangressed Thy law."

Then Christ will answer the accusation in this
wise : " It shall be done as you request, O ye angels
and ye demons ; all men must appear before My
judgment-seat, and each one shall receive that which
is his due : chastisement to the wicked, recompense
to the good."

When all those whom Christ has chosen to share
with Him His office of Judge shall have taken their
seats, His apostles having the precedence of all
others, the judgment will commence. It appears
from what the Apostle St. Paul says that no per
son, not even the saints, will be exempted from this
ordeal. " We shall all stand before the judgment-
seat of Christ " (Rom. xiv. 10).

This standing before the judgment-seat of Christ
will fill every one with fear. No one will be free
from it ; even the just will feel it to a certain degree,
as well as the unhappy sinner. Even though the just

The Final Judgment Commenced. 89

may not be conscious of any sin, they will yet not be
without apprehension. St. Paul says this, speaking
of himself : "I am not conscious to myself of any
thing, yet am I not hereby justified, but He that
judgeth me is the Lord " ( i Cor. iv. 4). By this
the Apostle apparently intends to say : " My con
science does not indeed reproach me, but this does
not prove me to be one of the just ; I must wait
and see what sentence the eternal Judge will pass on
me." In fact every man will be so terrified at the
first sight of the irate Judge, that, like St. John, he
will fall at His feet as dead.

It appears to me that judgment will be passed
upon the good somewhat after this manner : The
guardian angels will lead those who have been
committed to their charge to the judgment-seat of
God, and then the just will fall before Him in lowly
adoration. The evil enemy will then begin to ac
cuse them, and bring forward everything that he can
against them. But the guardian angel will defend
his client, he will produce all his good works, his
penances, his virtues, and lay them in the scales of
divine justice. And if they are not too light, Christ
will array him in the new robe, the garment of
splendor, and crown him with the diadem of the
eternal kingdom. Who can tell what the glory of
that moment will be ! How all the just will rejoice
that their lot is among the blessed ! How kindly
the choir of angels will congratulate them, and exult

90 The Last Judgment.

with them in blissful jubilation. And how all who
are yet waiting for their sentence will marvel at the
glory that is theirs, and long to share it with them.
Most bountiful Jesus, in the name of all the
saints and elect, whom Thou dost destine to the en
joyment of eternal felicity, I beseech Thee of Thy
infinite loving kindness, that I may stand amongst
Thy saints in the Day of Judgment. I am indeed
unworthy of this favor, but for the greater honor
and praise that will be ascribed to Thee, I pray
Thee let Thy boundless mercy be manifested to
wards me ; cast me not away, poor sinner that I am.
And I entreat you, saints of God, to help me to at
tain to your blessed company. I know that your
intercession is powerful enough with God to induce
Him to look upon me with compassion, and be in
finitely merciful to me in His judgment of my life.
Amen.

CHAPTER X.

ON THE LENGTH OF TIME THAT THE FINAL JUDGMENT
WILL LAST.

How long will the duration of the Last Judgment
be ? No definite answer can be given to this ques
tion, for it is a matter which no one knows ; yet it
may be conjectured that it will occupy a consider
able period. Some indeed say that it will be over
quickly, because God could judge all mankind in a
single instant. Yet this opinion does not seem to
be held by the Fathers of the Church, nor is it sup
ported by Holy Scripture, in which we find a day of
judgment invariably spoken of.

St. Paul, for instance, says : " God hath appointed
a day wherein He will judge the world in equity "
(Acts xvii. 31). And we read in the prophecies of
Isaias : " Behold the day of the Lord shall come, a
cruel day and full of indignation and of wrath and
fury " (Is. xiii. 9). In these and many other pas
sages of Holy Writ the Last Day is spoken of as a
day, not an instantaneous judgment. The prophet
Joel indicates that the day will be a long one, when
he says : " The day of the Lord is great and very
terrible ; and who can stand it ? " (Joel ii. 1 1.) And
91

92 The Last Judgment.

of this same day St. John, the prophet of the New
Dispensation, also says : " The great day of their
wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand it ? "
(Apoc. vi. 17.)

In many other passages of Holy Scripture we
find similar expressions ; the Day of Judgment
being called a great day, which probably means a
long day. St. Jerome held this opinion, for he
says : " The day of the Lord will be a great day
because of the eternity following upon it." St.
Augustine, when speaking of the duration of the
final judgment, expresses himself thus : " Over how
many days the judgment will extend we have no
means of ascertaining ; yet we know that a con
siderable period is often designated in Holy Scrip
ture as a day." St. Thomas Aquinas agrees with
St. Augustine on this point; he brings forward
several arguments to prove that the final judgment
will be of long duration.

And wherefore should God shorten that day ?
There is abundant reason why He should rather
prolong it. For it is the day of Christ's greatest
triumph; the day whereon the saints attain their
greatest glory and the damned are put to the great
est shame.

It is the day of Christ's greatest triumph, because
He will not only be adored by all the angels and
saints, but also by the wicked spirits and lost souls,
and acknowledged by all to be their Judge. On that

How Long the Final Judgment Will Last. 93

day all His enemies will be beneath His feet ; on
that day all His foes will be forced to confess their
offences against Him, the divine Arbiter. They
will then and there be compelled to own His div
inity, His infinite charity, the countless benefits He
has bestowed on them, in return for which they per
secuted Him, blasphemed Him, put Him to a cruel
death. Secondly, the blessed saints will on that
day attain their greatest glory, because they will be
held in honor and esteem by all mankind, as well
as by God and by the angels. For Christ will then
make manifest to all present how faithfully they
served Him, with what self-sacrificing zeal they
labored for the conversion of sinners. He will
then make manifest the secret penances they per
formed, the fierce temptations they resisted. He
will then make manifest the pitiless persecutions
they endured from the children of this world, and
how all manner of evil was spoken against them
unjustly. Thus Christ will crown them with the
honor that is their due, and all their adversaries
will be confounded.

Thirdly, on that day the reprobate will be put to
the greatest ignominy and anguish. For the Judge
will reveal all the shameful, the abominable character
of their misdeeds : He will reveal in the sight of
angels and saints, of the devils and the damned, the
infamous deeds they performed under cover of dark
ness. Yes, He will pour out the full chalice of His

94 The Last Judgment.

indignation upon those wretched beings, who under
the mask of their hypocrisy dared to desecrate His
very sanctuary. He will cause those who have been
corrupters of innocence to be seized and placed
among the evil spirits, whose diabolical, thrice ac
cursed work they carried on on earth. On that day
the divine Judge will give all the impenitent sinners
to drink deeply of the cup of shame and ignominy,
as St. Basil tells us, when he says : " The confusion
that will overtake the godless sinner in the Day of
Judgment will be more cruel torture to him than if
he were cast into a flaming fire." This is in fact
the reason why God has appointed the final judg
ment, that sinners may not only be punished by the
pain which will be their portion, but that they may
also be put to public shame. St. Thomas Aquinas
says : " The sinner does not only deserve pain, he
deserves disgrace and ignominy, for this is a punish
ment to which human beings only can be subjected.
The lower animals can be chastised and put to death,
but they cannot know what it is to suffer shame and
contempt."

This accounts for the fact that any one who has
a single spark of self-respect would rather suffer the
heaviest punishment in secret, than be exposed to
public disgrace.

On all these grounds it will be surmised that the
final judgment will stretch over a considerable period
of time, and hence we have all the more reason to

How Long the Final Judgment Will Last. 95

tremble at the prospect of it, and earnestly pray God
that on that great day He will not overwhelm us
with shame and confusion, but will grant us a share
in His joy and glory.

CHAPTER XL

ON THE PUBLICATION OF THE SENTENCE PASSED
UPON THE GOOD AND THE BAD.

WHAT has hitherto been said concerning the Last
Judgment is indeed most awful, but that which is now
to come is yet more so : we are about to speak of
the sentence pronounced upon the wicked, and how
they will be cast down into hell. This is so terrible
that nothing in all eternity can be found equal to it
in horror.

When the supreme Judge shall have searched the
hearts of all men, and weighed all their actions in
the balance of justice, when all has been made open
and manifest to the whole world, He will pass sen
tence upon the good and upon the bad. He will
first turn a kindly countenance to His elect (who
stand on the right hand), and address to them the
consoling words : " Come, ye blessed of My Father,
possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world. For I was hungry and
you gave Me to eat ; I was thirsty, and you gave
Me to drink ; I was a stranger and you took Me in,
naked and you covered Me, sick and you visited Me ;
I was in prison and you came to Me " (Matt. xxv.

The Sentence Passed. 97

34-36). u You have been faithful to Me unto your
life's end. You despised the world and all the
things of the world, you loved Me and sought above
all else to promote My glory. You suffered much
whilst upon earth, you performed hard works of
penance, you were despised and oppressed by
the votaries of the world and by the wicked. But
now the time of suffering is over and the time
of happiness begins ; your sorrow shall be turned
into joy, eternal joy which no man can take from
you.

** Therefore come, O My friends, come ye blessed
and chosen of My heavenly Father, come from toil
to rest, come from grief to joy, come from the
realms of darkness to the regions of light, come
from earth to heaven. Come and possess the ce
lestial country, for which you have longed so often,
come and reign with Me forever, for by your good
works you have merited this reward. Your felic
ity shall endure as long as I am God, and in My
presence you shall enjoy the bliss of heaven to all
eternity." The hearts of the elect will overflow
with joy and consolation and delight when they hear
these propitious words. They will look up to the
benign countenance of their Judge, and say to Him
with joy and gratitude : " Most gracious God ana
Lord, Thy loving kindness towards us is infinite, and
Thy bounty knows no bounds. How have we de
served to receive from Thee so rich a recompense ?
7

98 The Last Judgment.

What have we done to entitle us to endless felicity ?
It is of Thy mercy and infinite charity alone that
Thou dost admit us to Thy kingdom of glory. Be
Thou blessed for evermore ; our mouth shall con
tinually extol Thy majesty ! "

After this, Christ will command His angels to
bring all the saints before Him. And as they come
up to His throne, He will array each one in a gar
ment of glory, brilliant and beautiful, so that they
will shine like stars. On their heads He will place
golden crowns of surpassing brightness, and into
their hands He will give lilies, roses, palm-branches,
and a sceptre, to betoken the victory they have
achieved over the world, the flesh, and the devil.

The lost will witness the glory and exaltation of
the saints. They will hear their shout of tri
umph and it will be to them gall and wormwood.
They will gnash their teeth in rage and remorse ;
all the pleasure they felt in their sins will now be
gone. They will mourn and lament, and say, amid
sobs of deep despair : " Alas, how unfortunate,
how miserable we are ! What have we done ! Be
hold those whom once we despised now so happy, '
so enraptured, so honored and glorified, and we,
who thought scorn of them, are now so unhappy,
so miserable, so disgraced, branded forever with
every sign of reprobation ! And yet we might
have won for ourselves the same glorious destiny
as they ; the toil and difficulty would not have been

The Sentence Passed. 99

beyond our strength. But we in our accursed folly
have trifled away the supreme Good, and deprived
ourselves of eternal felicity for the sake of worthless
and transient pleasures. Oh, what folly, what mad
ness on our part ! How could we allow ourselves
to be dazzled to such an extent by the vile debauch
eries of the world ! "

After these unhappy beings have bewailed their
misery for a considerable time, the trumpet will
again send forth a mighty sound. This blast of
the trumpet is to announce the sentence passed
upon the reprobate, and it will impose silence on
every one present. Then the Judge will turn to
the wicked, and, looking at them with a counte
nance kindled with holy wrath, He will say : " O
foolish, O blind sinners ! Now the dreadful day
has come whereof I spoke to you when I was upon
earth — the day, the hour of judgment.

" Now He stands before you whose enemy you
have always shown yourselves. In your arrogant
presumption you caused all manner of pain and in
jury to Me, to My Church, to My brethren and
sisters, to all the children of God. Behold the
wounds you inflicted on Me ; behold the side which
you pierced ; behold the cross whereon you nailed
Me ; behold the pillar at which you scourged Me,
and to which in after years you bound My Church,
my spotless spouse, for century after century, lacer
ating and tearing her flesh with the scourge of your

i oo The Last Judgment.

insolent mockery, your unbelief, your scandals, your
seductions, your infamous deeds of every sort.

" Out of love for you I came down from heaven,
and out of love for you I endured the cruelties of
death. And yet My love, so wondrous in its ex
tent, awakened no response in your hearts, met
with no love in return ; on the contrary, you thrust
Me away with contempt and hatred when I stood at
the door of your heart as a suppliant, desirous of
gaining admittance there. How often did I call to
you, and you would not listen to Me. I stretched
out my hands to you, but you drew back from My
embrace. I employed threats, I visited you with
many a loving chastisement, but you would not
bow your proud neck beneath My sweet yoke. You
deliberately chose to serve the devil as your god,
and therefore you shall share his lot now, and be
with him in the abyss of damnation to all eternity.
I also will laugh at your destruction. Behold My ser
vants, all the just, shall eat and be filled, whilst you
shall hunger everlastingly. My servants shall be giv
en to drink in abundance, whilst you shall thirst, and
your thirst shall never be quenched. My servants
shall rejoice and you shall mourn. My servants
will exult in rapturous bliss, and you will shriek in
agony and despair. Depart from Me, ye cursed,
into everlasting fire which was prepared for the
devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you
gave Me not to eat ; I was thirsty and you gave

The Sentence Passed. 101

Me not to drink ; I was a stranger and you took Me
not in, naked and you covered Me not, sick and in
prison and you did not visit Me."

This verdict, pronounced by the just Judge, will
strike the ears of the damned like a thunderclap ;
they will fall prostrate upon the ground, overwhelmed
by these terrible words, and then they will raise
such a cry of despair and rage, that the very heav
ens and the earth will tremble at the sound.

" O woe betide us, accursed and miserable that we
are ! We must now be banished from the presence
of God and of the saints to all eternity ! We must
burn forever and ever with the devils in the fires of
hell ! Depart into the everlasting fire ! Oh, what
an awful sentence from the lips of our Judge!
Everlasting burning ! Everlasting torment 1 No
hope of rescue ! Woe betide us, wretched sinners ;
woe betide us, woe betide us ! M

Thus will the lost souls complain, and weep, and
lament. Yet the time of grace is over; the sen
tence has been passed ; there is no more mercy, no
more clemency for them.

" Understand these things, you that forget God ;
lest He snatch you away and there be none to de
liver you" (Ps. xlix. 22). Yes, understand this,
O unhappy sinners, and see to it that a like doom
does not overtake you. Think how you would feel,
were you amongst the number of these reprobates.
Consider what you would then wish that you had

IO2 The Last Judgment.

done, and what you would give as the price of your
ransom, were it possible for you to be liberated.
Well, then, do now what you would then wish to
have done. Confess and bewail your grievous sins
whilst there is yet time, and pray God to preserve
you from never-ending torment.

O most merciful God, Thou hast told us by the
lips of Thy prophet : " In an acceptable time I will
hear thee, and in the day of salvation I will help
thee." Behold now is the day of salvation, where
fore I call upon Thee with the utmost confidence, and
from the bottom of my heart I beseech Thee that
Thou wouldst grant me grace and help in propor
tion to my necessities, that I may not finally be cast
away. For the dead praise Thee not, O Lord
neither those that go down into hell, but the living,
we who live in Thy presence, will extol Thy holy
name forever and ever. Amen.

CHAPTER XII.

HOW THE DAMNED WILL ASK IN VAIN FOR MERCY, AND
WILL BE CAST DOWN INTO HELL.

WE know from the testimony of Christ's own
words that the damned will be permitted to speak to
Him, after they have received their sentence. Then
(that is, after the sentence has been pronounced)
He tells us, " They also shall answer Him, saying :
Lord, when did we ever see Thee hungry, or
thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison,
and did not minister unto Thee ? " (Matt. xxv. 44.)

When the lost souls perceive that there is no rem
nant of hope that their terrible sentence of condem
nation may be mitigated, they will, in their despair,
pour out horrible imprecations : " Cursed be the par
ents who gave us birth ; cursed be all those who led
us into sin ; cursed be all men who have lived with
us upon this earth ; cursed be He who created us ;
cursed be the blood of Christ, wherewith we were
redeemed ; cursed be all the saints of God ! "

What will the divine Judge do when He hears

them revile God in this shocking manner ? When

He Himself, standing before the Jewish council,

acknowledged that He was the Son of God, the

103

104 The Last Judgment.

high priest Caiphas rent his garments and cried
with a loud voice : " He hath blasphemed ; now
you have heard the blasphemy, what think you ? "
And the people answering said : " He is worthy of
death." The same scene will take place now, only
it will be a thousandfold more terrible. When
Christ hears these blasphemies He will exclaim, in
holy indignation : " They have blasphemed God,
they have cursed Me and My saints ! You have
heard it yourselves, now what think you ? "

Thereupon all the angels and saints will answer :
" They are worthy of eternal death, of the everlast
ing pains of hell ! Away with them to the place of
torment, away with them into everlasting fire ! "

Then that will be fulfilled which is foretold in
the book of Wisdom : " The divine Judge will take
zeal as His armor, and will arm the creature for the
revenge of His enemies. He will put on justice as
a breastplate, and will take true judgment instead
of a helmet. He will take equity for an invincible
shield, and He will sharpen His severe wrath for a
spear, and the whole world shall fight with Him
against the unwise. Then shafts of lightning
shall go directly from the clouds, as from a bow
well bent. They shall be shot out and shall fly to
the mark. And thick hail shall be cast upon them
from the stone-casting wrath ; the waters of the sea
shall rage against them, and the rivers shall run to
gether in a terrible manner. A mighty wind shalf

The Condemnation of the Lost. 105

stand up against them, and as a whirlwind shall
divide them ; and their iniquity shall bring all the
earth to a desert, and wickedness shall overthrow
the thrones of the mighty" (Wisd. v. 18-24).

In these awful words Holy Scripture, the book
of truth eternal, describes the sacred indignation
wherewith the supreme Judge will chastise the
damned whilst they are still upon the earth. All
the elements, thunder, lightning, hailstorms, the
raging billows of ocean, whirlwinds, and tempests,
all the powers, in short, of nature will become instru
ments to execute the vengeance of God upon those
who have rebelled against Him, against the aban
doned wretches whose existence upon earth has
been one long and terrible outrage against their
Creator. For in their words and works they have blas
phemed Him, the God of infinite holiness, power,
and loving kindness. They have wantonly offended
the Creator and Preserver of the realm of nature ;
therefore all nature rises up against them in ven
geance.

Now, when Christ has poured out upon these
unhappy beings all the rage of the powers of nature
in their vindictive and primitive fury, the earth will
open beneath their feet, and they, together with all
the devils, shall be swallowed up.

St. John, in the Apocalypse, says : " And a
mighty angel took up a stone, as it were a great
millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying: With

1 06 The Last Judgment.

such violence as this shall Babylon, that great city,
be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all "
(Apoc. xviii. 21).

Do not these words that the angel uttered signify
that all the lost souls will go down into hell with the
impetus of a millstone that sinks to the bottom of
the abyss of waters into which it is hurled ?

O, awful fall of the damned ! Who can think of
it without shuddering ! Alas for those for whom it
is prepared ; better were it for them that they had
never been born !

Thus they will descend, and hell, when they reach
it, will, like a fierce dragon, open its jaws to devour
them, and they will be engulfed within them, accord
ing to the prophecy of Isaias : " Hell hath enlarged
her soul, and opened her mouth without any bounds,
and then strong ones, and their people, and their
high and glorious ones, shall go down into it "
(Is. v. 14).

Who can portray the despair of the damned, the
rage wherewith in the deep and sombre abyss of
hell they will seek in their fury to tear and lacerate
one another. What words can describe the howls
and groans that will re-echo through that place of
torment ? It is beyond the power of man to con
ceive. For if Holy Scripture tells us that eye hath
not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into
the heart of man what God hath prepared for them
that love Him, may it not also be said that man

The Condemnation of the Lost. 107

cannot form any idea of what God has prepared for
those who have so frequently, so wantonly, insulted
Him ? And if the joys of heaven surpass all our
powers of description, will not the torments of hell
also be inconceivably great ?

Reflect upon this, O reader, reflect upon it often,
and do not fritter away thy life in idle pleasures,
but look to it that thou save thy soul. Call upon
God with all the fervor of thy heart, and beg Him to
grant thee a favorable sentence in the day of final
judgment, saying :

Most just God, and Judge of all men ! Many
dines, and grievously, I have offended Thee, and I
have nought to expect from Thy justice but severe
chastisement.

Yet I now confess my misdeeds ; I repent of
them and abhor them, and I firmly purpose from this
time forth to be ever faithful unto Thee. Where
fore, I beseech Thee mercifully to pardon my sins,
in order that I may escape eternal death, and may
attain everlasting felicity. Amen 1

CHAPTER XIII.

HOW THE BLESSED WILL GO UP INTO HEAVEN

AFTER THE JUDGMENT.

WHEN the earth has opened and swallowed up
the lost souls, then the angels and the blessed will
exult and rejoice. They will extol the justice of
God, and confess that the reprobates fully deserved
their fate.

St. John, in his Apocalypse, gives a beautiful
description of how the blessed will rejoice and
magnify the justice of God.

" I saw an angel come down from heaven, having
great power ; and the earth was enlightened with his
glory. And he cried out with a strong voice, say
ing : Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen : and is
become the habitation of devils. For her sins have
reached unto heaven, and the Lord hath remem
bered her iniquities. Render to her as she also
hath rendered to you, and double unto her accord
ing to her works. As much as she hath glorified
herself, and lived in delicacies, so much torment and
sorrow give ye to her. Rejoice over her, thou
heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets, for God
hath judged your judgment on her.
1 08

The Blessed after Judgment. 109

" After these things, I heard, as it weie, the voice
of much people in heaven, saying : Alleluia 1 Sal
vation, and glory, and power, is to our God. For
true and just are His judgments, who hath judged
the great harlot which corrupted the earth with her
fornication, and hath revenged the blood of His
servants at her hands. And again they said :
Alleluia ! And the four-and-twenty ancients fell
down and adored God that sitteth upon the throne,
saying, Amen ! Alleluia ! And a voice came
out from the throne saying : Give praise to our
God, all ye, His servants, and you that fear Him,
little and great. Alleluia! For the Lord our God, the
almighty, hath reigned. Let us be glad and re
joice, and give glory to Him, for the marriage of the
Lamb is come, and His wife hath prepared herself.
Blessed are they that are called to the marriage
supper of the Lamb."

These words do, indeed, present a delightful
prospect. How excellent will be the triumph-song
of the saints when they go in as guests to the mar
riage of the Lamb ! How sweetly they will sing
Alleluia ! How fervently they will thank God for
having delivered them from eternal damnation, and
numbered them amongst His elect !

The ascension into heaven will next take place.
Can one venture to describe this also ? The sweet
est strains of music will fill the air. St. Michael
will head the glorious procession, carrying the cross

1 1 o The Last Judgment.

whereon Christ' died. For the cross and all the
other instruments of the Passion will be preserved
in heaven — at least such is the opinion of several
learned theologians.

Following upon these sacred relics will come the
first choir of angels, together with those members of
the company of the saved, to whom the sentence of
Christ has assigned a place in the lowest of the
angelic choirs. Children who have died in infancy,
and souls who have persisted in sin unto the last,
and yet have been saved through the infinite mercy
of God and real contrition on their part, will be with
the first choir of angels. How fervently they will
praise their God for His unspeakable compassion !

Next will come the choir of archangels, and with
them those saints who have deserved a place in this
second angelic choir. God-fearing married people,
devout widows, besides other pious persons who
have lived in the world, will, adorned in marvellous
beauty, laud and magnify God with the archangels.

In the third place will come the choir of powers,
amongst whom will be all priests who have led a
holy life on earth.

The choir of the principalities will come next,
with all the saintly bishops and prelates who have
ruled the Church to the glory of God and the salva
tion of those who have been subject to them.

The choir of virtues will come fifth with the doc
tors of the Church and all who, by their doctrine and

The Blessed after Judgment. 1 1 1

preaching, have converted unbelievers, and brought
them to the knowledge of the true faith.

In the sixth place will come the choir of the dom
inations, with the confessors who suffered great
persecution for the faith, and died in misery and
destitution for Christ's sake.

The choir of the thrones will follow next, with the
holy martyrs who shed their blood, and gladly gave
up their lives for the name of Christ.

The eighth choir is that of the cherubim, amongst
whose ranks will be those holy virgins who have not
merely kept their chastity unsullied, but who, con
sumed by divine charity, have led a life of highest
perfection.

The ninth and highest of the angelic choirs is
that of the seraphim. With them will be the holy
apostles and servants of Christ, who, following in
the footsteps of the Redeemer, have lived on earth
an angel's life.

In a word, every one of the blessed will have his
place assigned him in whichever of the angelic
choirs for whose company his virtues render him
most fit.

How glorious will be the procession of the choirs,
and how melodious the celestial canticles they will
sing I Words fail us when we attempt to describe it.
And to close the triumphal cortege the King of
heaven and earth comes, crowned with splendor,
Christ, the first begotten Son of the heavenly Father,

ii2 The Last Judgment.

accompanied by His most blessed Mother the Virgin
Mary. He is surrounded with such beauty and
majesty, that heaven and earth, angels and men, are
struck with amazement. In fact this ascension into
heaven will be in every respect attended with such
grandeur and glory, it will be so inexpressibly
sublime and beautiful, that the lips even of an angel
would fail to give an adequate idea of it.

Consider what will be the rapture of the redeemed
when they soar aloft through the air, both soul and
body, as if they were pure spirits, ascending ever
and ever higher, beyond the shining orbs of heaven
with their golden refulgence, approaching nearer
and nearer to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of
God. And oh ! what ecstatic joy will inebriate them
when they enter through the golden gates, and be
hold the splendor and magnificence of the city of
God. When the Queen of Saba saw the magnifi
cence of Solomon's palace, she was struck dumb
with astonishment. But a greater than Solomon is
there, and the majesty and loveliness of the palace
of the King of kings is infinitely greater than
that of any earthly monarch.

Hence we may surmise what the blissful rapture
of the blessed will be, when it is granted them to
behold what God has prepared for them that love
Him.

Dost thou not desire, O pious Christian, to dwell
with the redeemed and enjoy the unspeakable

The Blessed after Judgment. 113

delights of the city of God, the heavenly Jerusa
lem ? Assuredly thou dost desire it. We all of us
have within us a powerful impulse, an ardent long
ing for happiness and enjoyment. O, seek not after
that happiness, strive not to secure the enjoyment
for which thy soul thirsts in this valley of tears.
Lift up thine eyes to the land that is above, let that
be thy goal, and one day thou shalt ascend up on
high with jubilant songs. God grant to thee and to
me, reader, that by His grace, this happy lot may
be our portion.
8

PART III.

ON HELL.
CHAPTER I.

ON THE FIRE OF HELL.

ALTHOUGH in the present day many are found to
deny the existence of hell, or, at any rate, the eter
nity of punishment, we do not consider it incumbent
upon us to bring forward a number of proofs that
there is such a place as hell. In the case of the
Christian reader, for whom this book is intended,
evidence of this nature is quite superfluous, because
he will not have made shipwreck of his faith. In
deed, what further proofs can be required for the
existence of hell and the eternity of punishment,
seeing that the prophets, that Christ Himself, that
the apostles, and the Fathers of the Church, nay,
the very Turks and heathens, speak of it as an un-

n 6 On Hell

questioned fact. Those who deny the existence
of hell must consequently be counted amongst the
fools who say in their heart that there is no God
who punishes their misdeeds. It would undoubt
edly be very agreeable for these people if all things
ended with this life, if there were no day of reckon
ing, or if, at least, the infernal regions were some
what less intolerable. This accounts for their catch
ing at any apparent arguments wherewith to delude
themselves and lull to sleep their fear of the eternaV
chastisements of hell. We will not enter upon any
examination of the wretched sophisms wherewith
these fools deceive themselves ; for the teaching of
the Catholic Church on this point is all we need*
She teaches that there is a place or state of un
equalled and never-ending pain in reserve for the
damned.

We know that there really is fire in hell, from the
words Christ spoke to the wicked : " Depart from
Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, which was pre
pared for the devil and his angels " (Matt. xxv.
41). This shows that there is real fire in hell,
and that in it the damned must burn eternally.
What the intensity of that pain will be it is beyond
the power of man to depict. For of all the varied
kinds of physical suffering to which man can be sub
jected, there is none so great, so cruel, so agoniz
ing, as that which is caused by fire. The rack, the
wheel, amputation of a man's limbs, are all terrible

On the Fire of Hell. 117

torture, but they are not to be compared to the pain
of burning. If one does but touch a red-hot iron,
what exquisite pain it occasions ! In a moment the
skin is off, the raw flesh protrudes, blood and matter
exude from the wound, and the pain goes to the very
marrow of our bones. One cannot refrain from cry
ing out and screaming as if one had lost one's
senses. Now if momentary contact with the red-hot
iron causes such acute pain, what would it be if one
had to hold a red-hot iron for any length of time 1
Now just imagine that thou wert sentenced to be
burned alive for thy sins, and for the whole of a live
long day thou didst stand amid the flames, unable
to die. How piteously thou wouldst weep and wail,
how loudly thou wouldst shriek and roar in thy
agony, so that the heart-rending cries wrung from
thee by the torture thou endurest would not only
cause the bystanders to shudder, but fill them with
sincere compassion. That man must indeed be
stony-hearted who could bear to look unmoved on
such a spectacle.

Ere long thou wouldst be burned to such an extent
as to be no longer recognizable, reduced to the
semblance of a glowing cinder. Now consider, O
Christian, if the action of earthly fire causes such
intolerable agony, what will be the torture of hell-
fire, the heat of which is incomparably more in
tense and more searching than that of any fire where
with we are familiar. And if thou dost ask why

u8 On Hell.

heil-fire should so far exceed earthly fire in the in
tensity of its heat, there are several reasons which
account for this fact.

In the first place, every one knows that the larger
the fire, the greater the heat it throws out. The
flame of a wax taper is not very hot, but if the whole
taper is burning at once, the flame arising from it is
much hotter. When a house is on fire, the heat in
he immediate neighborhood is very great, but if a
whole village is in flames, the heat of the conflagra
tion becomes unbearable even at a distance. If
such be the effect produced by the fire of earth,
which is comparatively but small in its extent, what
will the action be of the fire of hell, that is immeas
urably greater than any conflagration seen upon
earth !

Secondly, a fire that is enclosed in a furnace
burns far more fiercely than if it were in the open
air, because the heat being shut in cannot escape
and diffuse itself, or be tempered by the surround
ing air. If that is so, with what fury the flames of
the huge furnace of hell will rage, with what inten
sity they will glow ! Suppose such a misfortune as
a man being thrown into a lime-kiln, or a furnace
heated to white heat — how terrible would be his suf
ferings !

The next reason why the fire of hell surpasses
in intensity of heat all other fire is that it is kindled
by the breath of God. For the prophet Isaias says :

On the Fire of Hell 119

" Behold, the wrath of the Lord burneth and is heavy
to bear, His lips are filled with indignation, and His
tongue as a devouring fire. His breath as a torrent
overflowing even to the midst of the neck, to
destroy the nations unto nothing." And again:
" Topheth (hell) is prepared from yesterday, deep
and wide. The nourishment thereof is fire and
much wood ; the breath of the Lord as a torrent of
brimstone kindling it" (Is. xxx. 27, 33).

What a frightful description is here given of hell
and its torturing fire. Do not say that in these and
other familiar passages of Holy Scripture the expres
sions employed are mere figures, whereby the proph
ets foretold the divine judgments about to fall on
sinful nations, and not to be taken in a literal sense,
as referring to hell and its punishments.

Let us not deceive ourselves. These images are,
it is true, in their primary signification to be under
stood as indicating the doom of sinful nations, but,
in a wider and a higher sense, according to the in
terpretation given of them by the exponents of
Scripture, they are predictions of the judicial chas
tisement which, after the final judgment, will be the
portion of reprobate sinners.

St. Bridget justly says in her revelations : " The
heat of hell-fire is so great that if the whole world
were wrapped in flames, the heat of the conflagra
tion would be as nothing in comparison with it."

Hence we learn that that earthly fire bears no

120 On Hell.

more resemblance to the fire of hell than the feeble
flame of a wax taper to the white heat of a glowing
furnace. Remember this, O sinner, and lay it well
to heart. St. Augustine tells us that the most
fearful fire on earth is, in comparison with the fire
of hell, like a painting of fire compared to a real
fire.

When thou seest a fire, call to mind the fire of
hell. And since thou couldst not endure to put thy
hand for a single instant into that fire, think what
the heat of hell-fire must be, surpassing as it does
so infinitely the small fire thou seest before thee.
If thou canst not bear this, how canst thou endure
the other ?

It has now been made clear that the damned
will one day be cast, body and soul, into the huge
and awful furnace of hell, into the immense lake of
fire, where they will be surrounded by flames. There
will be fire below them, fire above them, fire all
round about them. Every breath will be the
scorching breath of a furnace. These infernal
flames will penetrate every portion of the body, so
that there will be no part or member, within or
without, that is not steeped in fire.

How despairing the cries, how agonizing the
shrieks that will ascend from this bed of torture 1
" Woe to us miserable creatures ! Woe to us a
thousand times ! We are tortured in this flame !
The excruciating pain pervades every member of

On the Fire of Hell. 1 2 1

our body ; the intolerable agony leaves us no rest I
If only we could die, if only we could die so as to
escape this fearful torture ! Alas, this wish is all in
vain ! Dead as far as the life of the soul is con
cerned, dead because we have forfeited the grace,
the mercy of God — we are yet condemned to live
on, to live forever and ever !

" What a privilege death, annihilation would be to
us ! But it eludes our grasp ; we can no longer
hope that it will come to deliver us from this mis
ery, this torture, from the furnace of hell. Alas,
how great has our folly been ! For the worthless
pleasures of a moment we have incurred this intol
erable misery, a misery which will endure for all
eternity."

"Understand these things," says David, "you
that forget God, lest He snatch you away and there
be none to deliver you." Listen to this, O sinner,
and let the lamentations of the lost be instructive to
thee. Picture to thyself the pit of fire in which
these wretched creatures have to expiate their
sins. Wouldst thou, we ask again, for any sum of
money, however large, agree to spend a single day
immersed in those flames ? No, not for the whole
world wouldst thou agree to remain in that fire for
one short hour.

If this be so, why dost thou for the sake of some
sinful enjoyment, some unjust gain, voluntarily cast
thyself forever into hell-fire ? O what folly, what

122 On Hell.

consummate folly! God grant that these blind
sinners may be enlightened, in order that they may
become aware of the unwisdom of their conduct,
and may apply themselves in time to the things
which concern their salvation.

O God of justice ! how great is Thy wrath and
how all-powerful is Thy hatred of sin and of the sin
ner ! Woe betide me and all who have the terrible
misfortune to commit mortal sin. May God keep me
from such sin as would be the means of casting
me into eternal perdition. I will gladly suffer al)
things, the greatest temporal troubles, the acutest
pains, even the cruellest death, in order to escape*
everlasting torment in hell. This is my firm pur*
pose ; wherefore grant me Thy grace and strengthen
me in my good resolution.

CHAPTER II.

i

ON THE HUNGER AND THIRST SUFFERED IN HELL.

JUST as the crimes whereby the sinner in this life
provokes the anger of God are of various kinds, so
the pains of hell whereby those crimes will be pun
ished also vary in their nature. We know that men
often sin through intemperance, greedily indulging
themselves in food and drink. Consequently God
has appointed a severe penalty for this sin in the
next world. Christ foretells it, indeed, in the words :
i< Woe to you that are filled, for you shall hunger "
(Luke vi. 25).

When Our Lord utters the word "Woe," He
always intends to threaten or predict some great
calamity. Let us consider for a moment what it
really is in this case. It is impossible for us to form
a true idea of the pangs of hunger, because we have
never felt them. If for a whole day one has nothing
to eat, the time seems very long, and one wants
some food very much. And if one were deprived
of any nourishment for two or three days, what
misery it would be ! But if a man had nothing what
ever to eat for a whole week, and were left a prey
to hunger, what would become of him ?
123

124 On Hell.

In times of dearth and famine one is horrified to
see what are the effects produced by hunger, and
what a terrible visitation the scarcity of food is.
For to still the intolerable pangs of hunger people
will devour whatever they can lay their hands on ;
grass, leaves, unclean and disgusting animals, nay,
men have even been driven to feed on the flesh of
their fellow-men, mothers to sacrificing their children,
and some have been known to gnaw their own flesh.
And when the poor famished wretches have nothing
more, they wander about like shadows of their
former selves, pale and emaciated as death itself.
They drag on a lingering existence, until all their
strength is consumed ; finally, through the torture of
starvation, they lose their senses ; they rave and cry
and howl, and die the most miserable of deaths.

If such are the effects of hunger upon earth, what
will the hunger be which shall be experienced in
hell?

If want of food for a few days only causes such
torture, what will a continual, never-ending hunger
be ? Who can think without horror of the hunger
suffered in hell I Woe betide those who have to
endure it. The prophet Isaias testifies to the ex
istence of real, actual hunger in hell, in this passage
of Holy Scripture : God thus speaks by the mouth
of the prophet : " Because I called and you did not
answer, I spoke and you did not hear ; behold, My
servants shall eat and you shall be hungry ; behold,

The Hunger and Thirst of Hell. 125

My servants shall drink and you shall be thirsty.
My servants shall rejoice and you shall be con
founded ; My servants shall praise for joyfulness of
heart and you shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall
howl for grief of spirit" (Is. Ixv. 12, 13, 14). Who
can tell how awful will be this hunger in hell ? The
Psalmist says of the enemies of God that they shall
suffer hunger like dogs (Ps. Iviii. 7). The repro
bate shall then be constantly tormented by the most
ravenous hunger, by a hunger so great as to exceed
beyond measure the hunger endured in times of
famine, by a hunger which will torment them for
ever.

What have you done, O unhappy sinners ! You
have brought upon yourselves this everlasting pain.
Had you but done penance in this life, you would
not have become the prey of this eternal hunger.
But you desired to eat and be filled in your lifetime,
consequently you must now endure what Christ
foretold would be your fate : " Woe to you that are
filled, for you shall hunger."

Let those especially lay this to heart who are
accustomed wilfully to neglect the observance of the
prescribed fasts, and to eat meat on abstinence days.
For whosoever eats meat on the fasts of the Church
without necessity and without being dispensed, com
mits a grievous sin. To do so is tantamount to defy
ing the Church and voluntarily excluding one's self
from her blessing. And he who persists in this sin,

126 On Hell.

and does not heartily repent of it, cannot hope for
eternal felicity. What could be more rash and
foolish than for so despicable a satisfaction to expose
one's self to the danger of eternal perdition !

O, hardened sinner, whither art thou going I
Think of the unending hunger to be endured in
hell, and have pity on thine own soul 1

Besides hunger the damned suffer the most burn
ing thirst, which it is beyond the power of words to
describe. Every one knows how terrible are the suf
ferings caused by thirst : they are simply unbearable.
Those who are plagued by thirst will drink from the
most impure sources, and if nothing at all can be
obtained to quench their thirst, a lingering and
painful death is the result. The thirst suffered by
lost souls is infinitely greater, more intense, more
painful than any thirst experienced on earth, how
ever great that may be. If a mortal man could feel
it even for a brief period, he would faint away and
die immediately.

There is never any rest or respite for the damned ;
they are driven from one torment to another un
ceasingly. This occasions thirst. But the heat of
hell-fire, wherein they burn day and night, forever
and ever, is the principal cause of the intolerable
thirst that consumes them. They are immersed in
flames, and never do they obtain the refreshment of
a draught of water. My God, how great their
thirst must be 1 It is unbearable, and yet they must

The Hunger and Thirst of Hell. 127

needs endure it. Listen to the piteous appeal of a lost
soul earnestly imploring the boon of a single drop of
water : " Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and
send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in
water to cool my tongue ; for I am tormented in
this flame " (Luke xvi. 24). " Most merciful God,
I ask only for water; I crave only one drop
of water to give momentary relief to my burning
tongue. Thou wilt not refuse so moderate a re
quest, Thou who art praised by all Thy creatures
as goodness itself." But this supplication is in
vain. God turns a deaf ear to the voice of their
entreaty. Not a single drop of water is given to
mitigate their sufferings.

Is it possible, O my God, that Thou canst be so
stern ? Father of compassion, why wilt Thou not
hear their prayer ? Thy justice and Thy hatred of
sin will not allow Thee to yield ; they oblige Thee
to punish sin eternally and in the most terrible
manner.

But we are told that not only are the damned
tormented with excessive hunger and thirst, they
are also fed with flames and given to drink of the
chalice of divine wrath. " If any man shall adore
the beast, he shall also drink of the wine of the
wrath of God, which is mingled with pure wine in
the cup of His wrath, and shall be tormented with
fire and brimstone. And the smoke of their tor
ments shall ascend up forever and ever " (Apoc.

128 On Hell.

xiv. 10). In the book of Moses we also read:
" Their wine is the gall of dragons, and the venom
of asps, which is incurable " (Deut. xxxii. 33).

Reflect, O sinner, upon this indescribable agony.
Fire and brimstone will be the food of the damned,
their drink the wine of God's anger. What can
exceed such torture ? My God, how rigorous Thou
art ! How severe are Thy chastisements !

Think, you sinners, who now drink to excess,
think what is the wine prepared for you hereafter,
think of the fearful thirst that will consume you to
all eternity. If you cannot bear to be thirsty for
one day, how will you bear the burning thirst from
which you shall never obtain relief ? Reflect upon
this in your heart, and indulge no longer in your
intemperance. Give up this vice, which will infalli
bly drag you down to perdition.

St. Paul expressly closes the door of heaven
against you, when he says : " Drunkards shall not
possess the kingdom of God" (i Cor. vi. 10).
There you have your sentence, pronounced upon
you beforehand. If you continue to pursue your
evil way, you cannot plead ignorance as to where it
will finally condemn you.

CHAPTER III.

ON THE VILE ODORS OF HELL.

IN order that nothing may be wanting to the
plagues of hell, wherewith the lost souls are tor
mented, God has in His anger decreed that this
horrible prison should be pervaded by an abomina
ble stench, as a punishment for those who, when on
earth, have taken excessive delight in the use of
choice perfumes.

The prophecy of Isaias will thus be fulfilled:
" Instead of a sweet smell there shall be a stench "
(Is. iii. 24). Decaying animal matter emits so hor
rible an odor that no one likes to go near it. But
if we imagine not one tainted carcass, but hundreds
of thousands heaped together, the air for miles
round would be so infected that it would cause the
death of all in the vicinity.

Even this stench, however, when compared with
the stench of hell, seems as nothing, or rather as a
pleasant odor. The effluvium of hell arises pri
marily from the place itself, which is by its nature
a most horrible and foul region. No breath of pure
air can ever penetrate the closely-shut walls of that
prison. Moreover, the whole of hell is a lake of
9 129

130 On Hell.

burning brimstone and pitch, and every one knows
how offensive are the fumes they give out.

" The unbelieving, and the abominable, and mur
derers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idol
aters, and all liars shall have their portion in the
pool burning with fire and brimstone, which is the
second death " (Apoc. xxi. 8.)

The prophet of the New Dispensation here speaks
of a pool, full of stagnant, foul, stinking water, for
which there is no outlet. He adds that this pool is
filled with burning brimstone from which a dense
smoke ascends, as he says elsewhere : " The smoke
of their torments shall ascend up forever and
ever."

The very bodies of the reprobate are so foul and
disgusting that they emit a most offensive odor,
worse than any stench in this world. According to
St. Bonaventure, the body of a single reprobate
would so taint the air on earth as to cause the death
of all living beings coming near it.

If one single body emits so horrible a stench,
what can the exhalation be that rises from many
millions of these wretched beings ?

It is related of the tyrant Maxentius that he was
wont, as a punishment, to cause a living man to be
bound to a corpse, face to face and limb to limb,
until the unhappy victim fainted, or even died
through contact with the dead and decomposing
body. That is indeed a torture of which no one can

On the Vile Odors of Hell. 131

think without shuddering. How much worse will it
be in hell, where the bodies will lie close to one an
other, without any hope of being separated.

Bad as this stench is, it is greatly increased by
the presence of the devils, who naturally are far more
offensive to the nostrils than the bodies of the lost.
We read in the life of St. Martin that the evil one
appeared to him upon one occasion, and the stench
that filled the room was so overwhelming that the
saint said to himself : "If one single devil has so
disgusting an odor, what can the stench be in hell,
where there are thousands of devils all together ? "

How much suffering this abominable stench must
cause to the damned ! how it must aggravate their
distress and pain ! For it must be pestilential be
yond description, arising as it does from so many
different sources — hell itself, the bodies of the
damned, the devils, the worms and reptiles, the fire
of pitch and brimstone, each and all of which stink
in the nostrils of the lost. Judge by what has been
said how insupportable the combined odors of all
these things must be.

Alas for the unfortunate beings who are con
demned to breathe such an atmosphere ! Alas for
the poor sinners who have to dwell in it for endless
ages ! They must sink under it, they must constantly
be on the verge of death. O my God, I beseech
Thee by Thy infinite clemency, spare me from so
terrible a fate.

CHAPTER IV.

SOME OTHER TORMENTS OF HELL.

IT is the opinion of many that some of the repro
bates will be doomed among many other intolerable
pains, to endure a most fearfully intense cold.

The venerable Bede relates the following anec
dote of a man whose name was Trithelmus. This
man was dangerously sick, and one night he was
thought to be dead. The next morning he recov
ered consciousness, to the astonishment of all who
were with him, and rose from his sick bed, saying
that God had granted him a prolongation of days,
in order that he might lead a different life to that
which he had hitherto led.

After dividing his property amongst his children,
and giving a portion of it to the poor, he entered
upon an excessively different mode of life. Shutting
himself up in a small tent beside a river, he spent
his days and nights in weeping. In winter time he
plunged up to the throat into the icy waters of the
river, and then, shivering and benumbed by the
cold, he immersed himself in hot water, a proceed
ing which caused him such agony that he could not
restrain his cries.

132

Some Other Torments of Hell. 133

When questioned as to the reason of his strange
conduct, and how he could possibly bear the sudden
alternations of extreme heat and extreme cold, he
replied : " I have seen worse things than that."
"What didst thou see?" the others asked him.
And he replied : " I have seen how the unhappy
souls in another world are cast out of a raging fire
into icy cold, and from icy cold back into the burn
ing flames. When I realize what they have to en
dure, I count my slight sufferings as nothing."

This anecdote, related by so grave and holy a
man as venerable Bede, shows how terrible indeed
are the torments of hell.

Christ speaks to us of the darkness of hell in
these solemn words : " Bind his hands and feet and
cast him into the exterior darkness : there shall be
weeping and gnashing of teeth " (Matt. xxii. 13).
Our Lord speaks of the darkness of hell as exterior
darkness, the most appalling, the most fearful that
can be. A traveller who has lost his way in a forest
and is benighted, feels a nameless terror coming over
him.

Now there is a land which is covered with the
shadow of death, where no order, but an eternal
horror reigns. That land is hell. An oppressive
gloom weighs upon the lost ; an indescribably ter
rible darkness prevails.

In this world sick people dread nothing more
than the night, because the time seems to pass so

134 On Hell.

slowly to them, and their pain seems doubly weari
some. They count the hours, and each one appears
as long as the night. What will it be for the deni
zens of hell, where thick darkness holds sway, and
night never gives place to daylight ?

In this horrible darkness the damned lie help
less as blind men, or as those who have had their eyes
cruelly put out. They see nothing, for the acrid
smoke stings their eyes, and the poisonous fumes of
sulphur destroy their sight. We know how dense
this smoke is from the account given by St. John :
" To him (Satan) was given the key of the bottom
less pit (hell). And he opened the bottomless pit ;
and the smoke of the pit arose as the smoke of a
great furnace ; and the sun and the air were dark
ened with the smoke of the pit " (Apoc. ix. 2). And
again : " They shall be tormented with fire and
brimstone, and the smoke of their torments shall
ascend up forever and ever ; neither have they rest
day or night" (Apoc. xiv. u.)

These are indeed terrible threats, and this proph
ecy foretells in the plainest terms what will be the
fate of those who are servants of sin and of the
devil. They shall be tormented with fire and brim
stone to such a degree that the smoke of their tor
ment shall ascend forever and ever. O fearful
words ! O torture inexpressible 1

Consider, O misguided sinner, what thy feelings
would be if thou wert confined for one single day

Some Other Torments of Hell. 135

in this dark and noisome dungeon. Thou knoweet
how disagreeable pungent smoke is to the eyes and
nostrils ; in fact, no one can remain in it for a quar
ter of an hour without being asphyxiated and half
blinded. If this is so on earth, what will it be in
hell?

The existence of the damned is more like death
than life; it is a living death, an everlasting, un
limited torture and misery. And since we are told
that the smoke of their torment goes up forever,
it follows of necessity that complete darkness must
prevail in hell. In connection with this subject,
venerable Bede relates the experiences of the man
Trithelmus (of whom mention has already been
made) whilst he lay in a trance, and was supposed
to be dead. On recovering consciousness, amongst
other things he narrated the following : " I was con
ducted by a being clothed in shining garments
through a country quite unknown to me, until we
came to a region enveloped in thick darkness, that
made me shudder with fear and horror. I could
distinguish nothing but the figure of my guide. As
we penetrated deeper and deeper into this obscurity,
I perceived in the midst of the darkness an abyss
of immense extent filled with smoke and a lurid glare,
the sight of which caused my hair to stand on end
with terror. From this abyss proceeded piteous
wailing, which sounded as if a number of men and
women were being put to cruel torture and death.

136 On Hell

But the worst was that my guide vanished, leaving
me alone in this terrible spot. I cannot describe
:hc agonized apprehension that took possession of
me ; in vain I looked around in the hope of finding
succor or sokce. The terror I felt was so great
that I thought I should have died.

" When I looked down into the black abyss, I was
afraid lest I should fall into it, and be lost, body and
soul. For with the lurid flames that rose not of the
abyss there came burning sparks that fell back into
it with a deafening noise, besides masses of sul
phurous smoke -like clouds that seemed as if they
might at any moment sweep me down with them
into the depths of the fiery gulf. These were all
lost souls which were driven upwards like sparks
from burning logs by the force of the underground
fire. God alone knows what I suffered ; a cold
sweat broke out all over me. Whilst I stood there
in this agony, not knowing which way to turn, there
sounded from far above my head peals of laughter,
and mingled with the laughter bitter weeping and
howling. As this noise came nearer, I saw a number
of devils who had with them five helpless souls whom
they were persecuting and tormenting. The devils
were in exultation, mocking and laughing ; the souls
were in despair, uttering lamentations and cries of
poignant anguish. Imagine what my feelings were
when I heard their cries, and observed that the
accursed devils were coming nearer and nearer.

Some Other Torments of Hell. 137

When they came close up to me, I was so over
powered with terror that I thought I should have
fainted, and I believe if God had not strengthened
me, I should have died there and then.

" For the demons glared at me with their fiery eyes
in so alarming a fashion, and the poor souls called
on me so pitifully for help, that I was divided be
tween fear and compassion, and my heart was as if
it must break. When the souls had been driven
past me, they were precipitated into the depths of
the abyss by the evil spirits with such violence that
heaven and earth seemed to tremble, and such a
cloud of sparks flew upwards that I was afraid they
would cover me. Finally, to my great grief and
alarm, a number of evil spirits approached me,
breathing rage and fury, and making as if they
would drag me down with them into the black abyss.
Then in abject terror I wept and wailed and im
plored help from some quarter; for in this dense
darkness I beheld nothing but mocking devils, the
yawning gulf and leaping flames, and knew not
whither to turn for deliverance.

" When my distress was at its height, my guide re
appeared ; he rescued me from my enemies, and
conducted me out of that dark, foul, horrible place.
He told me moreover that I was to return to my
body, and that I was to make known to as many as
possible of my fellow-men, the existence of this
land of terrible darkness."

138 On Hell.

In addition to the sinister obscurity that prevails
in hell, caused by the stifling smoke that rises in
dense clouds from the lake of brimstone, there is
the presence of frightful demons who increase the
pain and torment of the damned.

We read in the legend of St. Anthony the Her
mit, that the demons frequently appeared to him
under various forms, plaguing and frightening him
in indescribable ways. Sometimes they took the
shape of wild beasts, lions, bears, dragons or savage
dogs ; at other times they appeared in human form,
that of fierce-looking men, beautiful women, or mon
sters of hideous aspect. Sometimes they beat and
maltreated him so barbarously that they left him
half dead ; sometimes they caused him such terror
by their strange spectral apparitions, that had not
God and his angel guardian come to his aid, he
would have incontinently expired.

Now if they did all this to a man of saintly life,
over whom they had no rightful power, what will
they not do in hell to the ungodly sinners who are
completely at their mercy ?

Doubtless these diabolical spectres, assuming the
shape of wild animals, will fall upon the wretched
sinners and mishandle them shamefully. This will
be a fresh misery for them. No one can imagine
what new terrors and torments the ingenuity of these
spirits of hell will devise to harass the damned and
pour out on them their devilish malice.

Some Other Torments of Hell. 139

If thou dost fear this darkness, and all the horrors
attending it, see that thou fear the works of dark
ness, whereof Christ says : " Every one that doeth
evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light,
that his works may not be reproved " (John iii. 20).
But if thou lovest darkness, and seekest the dark
ness that thou mayst sin with greater impunity, it
will be no act of injustice on God's part to cast thee
into everlasting darkness, and at thy death to say
to the devils : " Because throughout his life he has
loved darkness and the works of darkness, bind his
hands and his feet and cast him into the exterior
darkness, where shall be weeping and gnashing of
teeth."

Would that all obdurate sinners could see this,
and consider the frightful torments which await the
careless and indifferent. For in that wherein we
have sinned we shall also be punished. And as in
our own day there are so many tepid and negligent
Christians who have not the slightest zeal for relig
ion or religious exercises, we bid them beware lest
they be one day cast into hell-fire at the command
of Him who calls Himself a jealous God, and who
is alone to be feared because He can " destroy both
body and soul into hell."

Wherefore consider, O cold and careless Chris
tians, what a fate is before you. Truly, were you to
reflect upon these frightful torments, you would at
once enter upon a new life. Instead of being tepid,

140 On Hell.

sluggish, lax, cold Christians, you would quickly be
come zealous, active, scrupulous, fervent servants of
God.

Away, then, with all tepidity, all indifference in
the great business of our salvation. . Whosoever
thou art who readest this, resolve to fulfil thy duties
as a Christian with all earnestness. Approach the
sacraments more frequently than thou hast done
hitherto; hear Mass more frequently than hitherto,
be more instant and fervent in prayer than hitherto.
Think more often of God and of the last things.
Thus thou wilt surmount the indifference, the cold
ness that has crept over thee, thou wilt make God
thy friend, the hope of eternal felicity will rise up
within thee and become a blessed certainty. God
grant that by His grace it may be so with thee and
with me !

CHAPTER V.

ON THE COMPANY OF HELL.

THERE are many bold sinners who, when they
are punished for their crimes and threatened with
hell-fire are wont audaciously to answer : " Wher
ever I go, I shall at any rate not lack company," as
if the presence of others could afford any solace to
them, or any alleviation of their torment. In order
that these shameless sinners may see how wrong
they are to speak thus, and how little cause they
have to anticipate any relief from the company in
which they will find themselves, this chapter shall
be devoted to showing them how woeful that com
pany will be, and how it will aggravate their misery.

The society of the damned consists of devils and
lost souls. Both of these are countless in number.
As for the society of the devils, this is so detestable
that it may be reckoned as the worst penalty of the
lost in hell. The place of torment would be far
less deserving of this name were there no devils in
it. On account of the multitude of demons there,
such confusion, such grief, such misery, such tyranny
prevails, that it is heartbreaking even to think of it.

We mortals have no worse enemy than the devil,
141

142 On Hell

who hates us with so intense a hatred that he longs
every moment to h:::l us down into the abyss of
perdition. And when at length he has got some
one into his power, he deals with him more barbar
ously than savage despot ever dealt with his dead
liest foe.

All the envy and hatred which at the time of his
fall he conceived against God, and which he cannot
vent upon Him, he vents upon the damned, torment
ing them with plagues the very thought of which
makes a man's blood run cold. Even if he were
not to do any harm to the damned, the mere fact of
his dwelling with them for all eternity would be such
terrible misery for the unhappy sinners, that the
horror of their position would be like a continual
death to them.

Of all the fallen spirits, not one is so abominable
as the chief of all, the haughty Lucifer, whose
cruelty, malice and spite render him an object of
dread not merely to the damned, but also to the
devils subject to him. This Lucifer is called by
various names in Holy Scriptures, all indicating his
malignity. On account of his repulsiveness he is
called a dragon ; on account of his ferocity, a lion ;
on account of his malice, the old serpent ; on account
of his deceitfulness, the father of lies ; on account
of his haughtiness, king over all the children of
pride ; and on account of his great power and
might, the prince of this world.

On the Company of Hell. 1 43

Listen to what the Fathers of the Church and
some expositors of Holy Scriptures say of the dread
ful appearance that Satan presents : they apply to
him the description given of the leviathan in the
book of Job : " Who can discover the face of his
garment, or who can go into the midst of his mouth ?
Who can open the doors of his face ? his teeth are
terrible round about. His body is like molten
shields, shut up close with scales pressing one upon
another. One is joined to another, and not so
much as any air can come between them. His
sneezing is like the shining of fire, and his eyes like
the eyelids of the morning. Out of his mouth go
forth lamps, like torches of lighted fire. Out of his
nostrils goeth smoke, like that of a pot heated and
boiling. His breath kindleth coals, and a flame
cometh forth out of his mouth. In his neck strength
shall dwell, and want goeth before his face. His
heart shall be as hard as a stone, and as firm as a
smith's anvil. When he shall raise him up, the
angels shall fear and, being affrighted, turn to God
for protection. He shall make the deep sea to boil
as a pot ; there is no power upon earth that can be
compared with him who was made to fear no one.
He beholdeth every high thing ; he is king over all
the children of pride " (Job xli.).

It is the opinion of St. Cyril, St. Athanasius, St.
Gregory and other learned expositors of both the
Greek and Latin Churches, that although this de-

144 On Hell.

scription, taken literally, is that of a monster of the
sea, yet it is intended, in its mystic sense, to apply
to Lucifer. And if one compares what is said of
the leviathan with the attributes ascribed to the
prince of darkness, it is impossible to deny their
coincidence ; moreover, one knows as a general fact
that evil things have their types and figures in the
natural world as well as good things, the one serving
us for warning, the others for an example.

Besides the prince of darkness there are hundreds
of thousands of inferior devils, which though less
bad and abominable than himself, are yet so wicked
and horrible that one could hardly look upon them
and live.

St. Antony relates that one of the Brothers of his
Order uttered a piercing scream at the sight of a
devil who appeared to him. His fellow-monks, run
ning to him in alarm, found him more dead than
alive. After giving him something to revive and
strengthen him, they asked him what was the matter.
Then he told them that the devil had appeared to
him, and terrified him so that all the life had gone
out of him. And on their inquiring what the devil
looked like, he answered : " That I really cannot
say ; I can only say that if the choice were given me
I would rather be put into a red-hot furnace, than
look again at the countenance of the demon."

We read much the same thing in the life of St.
Catharine of Sienna. She too declared that she had

On the Company of Hell. 145

rather walk through a flaming fire than gaze for one
instant at the devil.

If the mere sight of the evil one is so appalling
that the saints think it more intolerable than the
pain of exposure to a burning fire, what, my God,
must be the fear and horror of the damned, dwelling
forever in the midst of countless fiends !

How terrified thou wouldst be if a mad dog were
suddenly to spring upon thee, pull thee to the
ground, and begin to tear thee with his teeth ! Do
not imagine that the devil will fall upon the damned
with less fury, or treat them more mercifully. The
account Job gives of his persecutors describes very
accurately the state of a lost soul in hell :

"My enemy hath gathered together his fury
against me, and threatening me he hath gnashed
with his teeth upon me ; he hath beheld me with
terrible eyes. They have opened their mouth upon
me and reproaching me they have struck me on the
cheek, they are filled with my pains. He hath taken
me by my neck, he hath broken me, and hath set me
up to be his mark. He hath compassed me round
about with his lances, he hath wounded my loins, he
hath not spared. He hath torn me with wound upon
wound, he hath rushed in upon me like a giant "
(Job xvi. 10-15). Tms passage will give us some
idea of the awful character of the company the
damned will find themselves among in hell.

The reorobate may nevertheless perhaps console
10

146 On HelL

themselves with the thought : at any rate we shall
have our fellow-men with us in hell, and no lack of
them either. Beware how you delude yourselves
with this false comfort. Every lost soul would far
rather be alone in hell, were the option given him.

For as in hell there is no divine charity, so there
is no love of one's neighbor ; on the contrary, all the
damned are so embittered one against the other,
that they only wish evil to one another, and mutually
mock at and curse one another in the most unkind
manner.

And since on earth it is very grievous to be forced
to live with an enemy who does one all manner of
harm, so it is no small affliction to be continually
with thousands of people, all of whom they hate and
detest from the bottom of their heart.

What thinkest thou would be thy feelings if thou
wast sorely tormented and maltreated and persecuted
by devils, so that thou couldst not refrain from utter
ing loud cries of pain and vexation, and yet among
all the thousands who bore thee company thou
couldst not find one to show thee the slightest sym
pathy, but thou wert laughed at and cursed by all,
for every one would rejoice in thy misery. Even
thy father and mother, thy wife and children, thy
brothers and sisters, thy friends and relatives would
then be thy declared enemies, and instead of show
ing thee any gratitude would only seek to injure
thee.

On the Company of Hell. 147

But amongst all thy enemies the most inveterate
will be those to whom thou hast given scandal by thy
bad example, whom thou hast led into sin by counsel
or example, who owe to thee their perdition. They
will hate and execrate thee so bitterly, and torment
thee with such animosity that they will appear less
like men than fiends incarnate.

In connection with this subject St. Bernardin re
lates the following instance : " A wealthy usurer had
two sons, one of whom entered a religious Order,
whilst the other remained in the world with his
father. Not long after the father died, and in a
short space of time he was followed to the grave by
his son, to whom he had bequeathed all his property.
The other son, who had become a monk, was much
concerned about the fate of his relatives, and ear
nestly implored almighty God to reveal to him
their lot in another world. His entreaties at
length prevailed; he was one day transported in
spirit into hell, but although he looked everywhere
around him, he could not descry his father and
his brother. Presently he noticed a fiery abyss, the
flames of which rose up to a great height. In this
pit of fire he saw those of whom he was in search,
rivetted together with iron chains, raving and rag
ing at one another. The father cursed his son,
laying all the blame of his damnation upon him,
saying : ' A curse upon thee, O wicked son, thou art
alone the cause of my perdition. For thy sake, to

148 On Hell

make thee a rich man, I practised usury ; had it not
been for thee, I should not now be in this misery.'
Then the son retorted upon his father, saying : * A
curse upon thee, O ungodly father, for thou art
alone the cause of my perdition. Hadst thou not
taken usury and bequeathed to me thy unjust gains,
I should not have been the possessor of ill-gotten
riches, and should not have come to this misery.' "
Thus will it be with thee, if thou art in any way re
sponsible for the loss of a soul. Thy wife and
children will anathematize thee, and reproach thee
with the occasions of sin thou didst put in their way.
Dives felt this so keenly that he earnestly besought
Father Abraham to send Lazarus to his father's
house, to testify to his brethren of the sufferings he
endured, lest they should also come to that place of
torments. This he did not do out of love for his
brothers, as St. Antony says, but because he was
well aware that if they joined him in hell, it would
greatly aggravate his torment.

But supposing that natural affection still existed
in hell, especially between those who had sincerely
loved one another on earth, and who had not been
the cause of one another's damnation, the society of
one who was dear to thee would augment rather
than diminish thy pain, and this in proportion to
the love thou hadst for him. For what anguish it
would be to thee to see thy dearest friend tortured
and tormented in every possible manner. It would

On the Company of Hell. 149

be enough to make your heart break asunder with
sorrow and sympathy. And in addition ta the men
tal pain and grief, the damned increase vastly
one another's exterior and bodily sufferings. In the
first place, because they lie pressed closely one upon
another. Secondly, because they all emit so offen
sive and insupportable a stench. Thirdly, because
they howl so piteously, and make hell re-echo with
their woeful lamentations. Of this Christ speaks
when He says : " There shall be weeping and
gnashing of teeth." He repeats these words more
than once, to give them greater force, and to im
press upon our minds the magnitude of the tor
ture endured by the lost.

The devils, too, will unite their howls to the
shrieks of the damned, and raise such a clamor that
hell itself shall tremble.

The torment of the damned will be further aggra
vated by the frightful appearance of their bodies
and the horror wherewith they inspire one another.
For St. Anselm says : " Just as no stench can be
compared to the stench of the damned, so nothing
in this world can give an idea of their hideous
appearance."

Thus as often as one lost soul looks at another,
so often will he shudder with disgust and loathing
and abhorrence. Were there no other torture but
this in hell, it would suffice to render its inmates
most miserable.

150 On Hell

Finally, the torment of hell is greatly augmented
by the eternal shame which will be its portion.

St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that the sins of
each one will be as fully known to the others as if
they could behold them with their bodily eyes.
Every one can imagine what anguish this must be.
For what is so painful on earth as to be put to open
shame ?

To a man who has lost his good name life is not
worth living ; it is only a burden to him. In former
times, in some countries, it was customary to brand
evil-doers, robbers, for instance, with a mark on the
forehead or the shoulder. What ignominy for any
one who had a spark of self-respect! Whenever
anybody looked at him, he must have blushed
crimson.

The devil will brand all the reprobate with the
mark of shame on their foreheads, or on that part
of the body wherewith they sinned, in order that all
the shameful deeds they perpetrated in their life
time may be made known. It is this everlasting
disgrace which God foretells to the sinner by the
mouth of His prophet : " I will bring an everlasting
reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame which
shall never be forgotten " ( Jer. xxiii. 40). Let the
damned do what they will, no effort on their part
will ever avail to efface this mark, or to conceal it
from their fellow-sufferers. Thus, as St. Ephrem
says, this shame and infamy will be more insup-

On the Company of Hell. 151

portable than hell-fire itself, because it will keep
constantly before their remembrance the sins where
by they defiled themselves on earth.

Dionysius, the Carthusian, speaks of one of his
religious brethren in England, who, after a trance
that lasted three days, gave the following account,
at the earnest request of the monks, of what he had
seen : " I was conducted by my guide a long way
until we came to a region of gloom and horror,
where were a countless multitude of men and
women, all suffering terrible torments. These were
the persons who had sinned with their bodies ; they
were plagued by huge fiery monsters, who sprang
upon them, and, despite their resistance, clasped
them and hugged them with their paws till they
shrieked with pain. Amongst those who were tor
mented in this manner I saw a man whom I knew
very well, and who had been much esteemed and
respected in the world. Seeing me, he cried aloud
in piteous tones : « Alas, alas ! woe is me that I
sinned as I did in my lifetime, for now the pain I
endure grows greater day by day. But the worst
of all, what I feel most acutely, is the shame and
disgrace to which my sins expose me, for all know
them, and all despise me and mock at me on
account of them.' "

Hence it will be seen that, immeasurable as are
the torments of hell, what the damned dread yet
more than physical torments is to be an object of

152 On Hell.

scorn and derision to their fellows on account of
their sins. And thus their misery, far from being
lessened by the company of others, is vastly in
creased by it. Wherefore think not to console thy
self with the thought of the companions thov
wilt find in hell, for their society is only to be dread
ed. And in order that thou mayst never b<
brought into such company, beware of associating
in this world with any who may lead thee into SIB
and perhaps bring thee to perdition.

CHAPTER VI.

ON THE LOSS OF THE BEATIFIC VISION OF GOD.

WE have already spoken of many and very terri
ble chastisements inflicted on the damned, but these
are but a very insignificant portion of the whole.
They are countless in number ; and so great and
awful that, as St. Augustine says, all the suffering
of this world is as nothing when compared with the
everlasting fire and torments of hell.

Just as the Apostle Paul says : " Eye hath not
seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the
heart of man, what things God hath prepared for
them that love Him," so it may be said : Eye hath
not seen, nor ear heard, what punishments God
hath prepared for those on whom His just judg
ments fall. And when we read the fearful chastise
ments wherewith God threatens to overwhelm,
even in this world, the transgressors of His holy
law, may we not feel sure that He will pour out all
the fury of His anger upon those bold sinners who
set at naught His warnings, and with fiendish mal
ice, persist in their iniquity unto their life's end ?
Remember what God said to the people of Israel :
" A fire is kindled in My wrath, and shall burn even
'53

154 On Hell.

to the lowest hell ; and shall devour the earth with
her increase, and shall burn the foundations of the
mountains. I will heap evils upon the transgres
sors of My law, and will spend My arrows among
them. They shall be consumed with famine, and
birds shall devour them with a most bitter bite ; I will
send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the fury of
serpents. Without the sword shall lay them waste,
and terror within, both the young man and the vir
gin, the sucking child with the man in years"
(Deut. xxxii. 22-25).

Holy Scripture contains many similar and equally
appalling menaces. There is no doubt that in the
next world, where justice, not mercy, will rule, God
will chastise the insolent violators of His holy com
mandments with an unsparing hand. The punish
ments of eternity will be without number and with
out limit. The damned will be encompassed with
trouble and sorrow, with agony and torments in
numerable. St. Bernard says the pains of the
damned are countless, no mortal tongue can enu
merate them.

Yet of all these pains, that which gives the keen
est anguish is being deprived of the vision of God.
It will never be given to the damned to behold the
divine countenance. This pain will far outweigh
all the other torments of which we have spoken.
It is impossible for mortal man to understand how
this can be so great an affliction for the damned.

The Loss of the Beatific Vision. 155

Yet such is the teaching of the Fathers ; they all
maintain that there is nothing which the lost bewail
so bitterly as being shut out forever from the vision
of God. Whilst we live in this world, we think but
little of the vision of God, and what it would be to us
to be deprived of it eternally. This arises from the
bluntness of our perception, which prevents us from
comprehending the infinite beauty and goodness of
God, and the delight experienced by those who be
hold Him face to face. But after death, when we
are freed from the trammels of the body, our eyes
will be opened, and we shall at least to some extent
perceive that God is the supreme and infinite Good,
and the enjoyment of Him our highest felicity.
And then such an eager desire will take possession
of our soul to gaze upon and enjoy this supreme
Good, that she will be irresistibly drawn to God, and
will long with all her powers to contemplate His
ineffable beauty. And if on account of her sins
she is deprived of this beatific vision, it will cause
her the most intense anguish. No grief, no torture
known in this world can be in any wise likened
to it.

St. Bonaventure bears witness to this, when he
says : " The most terrible penalty of the damned is
being shut out forever from the blissful and joyous
contemplation of the Blessed Trinity." Again, St.
John Chrysostom says : " I know many persons only
fear hell because of its pains, but I assert that the

156 On Hell.

loss of the celestial glory is a source of more bitter
pain than all the torments of hell."

The evil one himself was made to acknowledge
this, as we read in the legends of Blessed Jordan,
at one time General of the Dominican Order. For
when Jordan asked Satan, in the person of one
who was possessed, what was the principal tor
ment of hell, he answered : " Being excluded from
the presence of God." " Is God then so beautiful to
look upon ? " Jordan inquired. And on the devil
replying that He was indeed most beautiful, he
asked further: "How great is His beauty?"
" Fool that thou art," was the rejoinder, " to put
such a question to me ! Dost thou not know that His
beauty is beyond compare ? " " Canst thou not
suggest any similitude," Jordan continued,
" which may give me to some extent at least an idea
of the divine beauty ? " Then Satan said : " Imag
ine a crystal sphere a thousand times more brilliant
than the sun, in which the loveliness of all the col
ors of the rainbow, the fragrance of every flower,
the sweetness of every delicious flavor, the costli
ness of every precious stone, the kindliness of men
and the attractiveness of all the angels combined ;
fair and precious as this crystal would be, in com
parison with the divine beauty, it would be un
sightly and impure." " And pray," the good monk
inquired, " what wouldst thou give to be admitted
to the vision of God?" And the devil replied:
" If there were a pillar reaching from earth to

The Loss of the Beatific Vision. 157

heaven, beset with sharp points and nails and
hooks, I would gladly consent to be dragged up and
down that pillar from now until the Day of Judg
ment, if I could only be permitted to gaze on the
divine countenance for a few brief moments."

Hence we may gather how infinite is the beauty
of the face of God, if even the spirit of evil would
submit to such physical torture as he describes for
the sake of enjoying for a few moments the sight of
that gracious and majestic countenance. There is
therefore no doubt that nothing is a source of such
anguish to the devils and the damned as being
deprived of the beatific vision of God.

Consequently, if God were to send an angel to the
portals of hell, with this message to the wretched
denizens of that place of torment : " The Almighty
has in His mercy had compassion on you, and He
is willing you should be released from one of the
penalties you endure ; which shall it be ? " what
thinkest thou would be the reply ? They would all
as one man exclaim : " O good angel, pray God that
if only of His bounty He would no longer deprive
us of the sight of His countenance ! " This is the
one favor they would implore of God. Were it pos
sible for them, in the midst of hell-fire, to behold
the divine countenance, for the joy of it they would
no longer heed the devouring flames. For the vis
ion of God is so beauteous, so blissful, so full of
rapture and infinite delight, that all the joys and

158 On Hell.

attractions of earth cannot compare with it in the
remotest degree. In fact, all celestial happiness,
how great soever it might be, would be turned to
bitterness if the vision of God was wanting; and
the redeemed would choose rather to be in hell, if
they could there enjoy that beatific vision, than be
in heaven without it. Just as the privilege of be
holding the divine countenance constitutes the chief
felicity of the blessed, the one without which all
others would be no happiness at all, so it is the
chief misery of hell, that the lost souls should for
ever be excluded from it. On this subject St. John
Chrysostom says : " The torments of a thousand
hells are nothing in comparison to the anguish of
being banished from everlasting bliss and the vision
of God."

To realize, in some measure, how great this pain
of loss is, we should bear in mind that we have been
created by God to be forever happy. This love of
happiness, this yearning for it, which every one of
us feels in his heart, will never be destroyed, not
even in hell. During this life men, impelled by
this desire and blinded by passion, seek happiness
in riches, in honors, in sensual gratification. These
vain images of happiness deceive us so long as our
soul is united with our body. But after the soul
has severed her connection with the body, all these
false, fleeting pleasures disappear, and she becomes
aware that God alone is the source of all happiness,

The Loss of the Beatific Vision. 159

and that she can find happiness solely in the pos
session of Him. No longer deceived by false ap
pearances, no longer blinded by passion, she per
ceives clearly the ineffable, ravishing beauty of God
and His infinite perfections ; she sees His infinite
power in creating the world, His infinite wisdom
in governing it, His excessive love for her in be
coming man, in dying for her, in giving Himself to
her as the food of her soul in the Blessed Sacrament,
in destining her to share His own happiness forever
in heaven. This knowledge of the grandeur, of the
goodness and loveliness of God will remain deeply
impressed on her for all eternity. She will also see
the justice of the punishments which God inflicts
forever in hell upon all those who do not keep His
commandments.

Then the reprobate soul, yearning after happiness,
and feeling irresistibly drawn to God, who alone can
make her happy, endeavors to rush to God with all
the impetuosity of her nature, in order to behold
Him, to enjoy Him, to be united to Him ; but she
finds herself repelled with infinite force from God,
and hated by Him on account of her sins. Were
all the riches, honors and pleasures of the world
now offered to that soul, she would turn away from
them, and would even curse them all, for she yearns
for God alone, and can be happy only in God.

The reprobate soul in hell, spurred on by fright
ful pains, looks about her for some alleviation, for

160 On Hell

some word of comfort ; but not even a sympathizing
look greets her, for she is surrounded by cruel devils
and bitter enemies. Not meeting with any compas
sion where she is, she raises her eyes to heaven, and
beholds it so beautiful, so enchanting, so delightful,
so full of true happiness. She remembers that she
was created and destined to enjoy its bliss, and
now, in the midst of her most excruciating pains, she
longs for its pleasures with a still more indescrib
able yearning, and makes extraordinary efforts to go
there, but she cannot leave her abode of torment.
No one in heaven seems to take any notice of her.
She sees the throne that God, in His goodness,
had prepared for her, now occupied by some one
else ! There is no longer any room for her in
heaven. She beholds there some of her relatives,
of her companions and acquaintances ; but they do
not heed her. She beholds all the elect in heaven
full of joy and gladness. They do not even sym
pathize with her, but as the Psalmist sings, " the
just will rejoice when he shall see the revenge "
(Ps. Ivii. n).

In vain the reprobate soul calls on the saints, on
the Blessed Virgin and on our divine Saviour Him
self. She feels drawn to God by an irresistible im
pulse, and understands that God alone can quench
her thirst for enjoyment and make her happy. She
longs to see and possess Him ; she repeatedly en
deavors to spring towards Him, but she feels her-

The Los? of the Beatific Vision. 161

self repulsed by Him with invincible force ; she
beholds herself the object of divine wrath, of the
divine anathema. She is aware that her case is
hopeless, and that she shall never be admitted into the
mansions of the blessed, or leave the abode of end
less misery. Despair seizes her ; she utters the
most fearful imprecations against God and the elect,
against heaven, against herself, her parents, her
companions, against all creatures. All hell resounds
with her horrid blasphemies, and she becomes, in
her ravings, an object of terror to all the other
reprobates.
ii

CHAPTER VII.

THE WORM THAT DIETH NOT.

OUR divine Saviour says : " If thy hand scandal
ize thee, cut it off ; it is better for thee to enter into
life, maimed, than, having two hands, to go into
hell, into the fire that cannot be quenched, where
their worm dieth not, and the fire is not extin
guished. And if thy foot scandalize thee, cut it off ;
it is better for thee to enter lame into life, than,
having two feet, to be cast into the hell of un
quenchable fire, where their worm dieth not, and
the fire is not extinguished. And if thy eye scan
dalize thee, pluck it out ; it is better for thee with
one eye to enter the kingdom of God, than, having
two eyes, to be cast into the hell of fire, where their
worm dieth not, and the fire is not extinguished "
(Mark ix. 42-47).

By these words our blessed Redeemer wished to
impress on our minds the necessity of avoiding the
occasions of sin and of making even the most pain
ful sacrifices to avoid sin and thus escape the end
less pains of hell. He, moreover, wished to en
grave deeply in our minds the fact that two of the
162

The Worm that Dieth Not. 163

most fearful torments of hell are its unquenchable
fire and its never-dying worm. We have seen in a
foregoing chapter in what consists the terrible fire
of hell. It now remains to us to examine in what
consists " the worm that dieth not."

All the senses of the reprobate have each their
peculiar punishment ; their reason, or intellect, is
punished by the pain of loss, as we have seen in the
preceding chapter, a punishment far surpassing that
of the senses. The memory of the reprobate is tor
mented by " the worm that dieth not," that is by a
most keen and constant remorse of conscience,
which will give them no rest.

The lost sinner will remember how many graces
and means of salvation he had during life to save
his soul ; how God sent him so many holy inspira
tions, how he received so many good instructions,
how he had the grace of prayer within his power to
enable him to practise the virtues of his state, to
overcome temptation, to keep the commandments of
God and of His Church ; how his pious friends
exhorted him to lead a good life both by their ex
hortations, but especially by their good example ;
how he had so many opportunities of instructing
himself in his obligations by the hearing of the
word of God and the reading of good books, and of
strengthening himself in the discharge of his duties
by the reception of the sacraments and by the prac
tice of devotion to the Blessed Virgin !

1 64 On Hell.

The lost sinner will, in a word, remember with
how little trouble he might have saved his soul and
avoided hell. He will say to himself : " So little
effort was required for my salvation ; even after my
numerous sins a good confession would have suf
ficed. But through shame, through human respect,
I did not make it. How foolish I was ! How often
did my conscience, my family, my friends urge me
to go to confession ! But it was all in vain. Others
committed greater sins than I did, but they be
wailed them, went to confession and changed their
life, and now they are enjoying unspeakable happi
ness in heaven ! And as for me, I am lost forever,
and that through my own fault, for I had at my dis
posal a superabundance of means of salvation.
But now repentance is unavailing, it is too late ! "

But let us consider the expressions of regret of
the various lost sinners. Their sorrow is vain, for,
like that of Judas, it is the sorrow of despair.
" During life," these lost sinners will say to them
selves, " I loved ease and comfort and luxury, fine
garments, costly jewelry and princely mansions. To
gain these I did not scruple to defraud my neighbor
in every available way. I stole from my employers,
I took false oaths, I joined secret societies, I even
Bold my virtue ! I stayed away from Mass, I ate
meat on forbidden days, I neglected the sacraments,
I went so far as to deny my faith. I contracted
marriage before a civil magistrate, or before a he-

The Worm that Dieth Not. 165

retical minister ; I contracted a mixed marriage
without dispensation ; I got a divorce and then ven
tured to break the laws of God and of the Church
by getting married again ! I wished to be free, to
do just as I pleased. The laws of God and of His
Church forbade me to frequent dangerous occasions,
and I spurned these laws because I wished to enjoy
myself and gratify my passions by going with per
sons and into places that were dangerous to me, and
thus I fell repeatedly into sins, even the most shame
ful. God commanded me to be pure and chaste,
and I took delight in gratifying my basest passions
in every possible way, and sought every occasion of
doing so. How criminally I acted in neglecting to
give my children a religious education, and thus
caused them to lose their souls ! During life I was
fond of listening to and joining in backbiting,
calumny, obscene discourses, and even irreligious
conversations. I loved to read filthy novels and
to gaze on immodest pictures and objects. While
on earth, I yielded to my passion for strong drink,
and indulged in it to excess, until I degraded myself
below the brute and committed crimes innumerable
against my wife and children, against my neighbor.
During life I delighted in cursing, swearing, in
uttering fearful oaths and imprecations and in
quarrelling, in gambling and in almost every crime.
And now I find myself in the gloomy prison of hell,
in company of a countless multitude of villains,

1 66 On Hell.

murderers, of the most degraded beings that have
ever lived I I have no longer a loving parent, a
loving child, a sympathizing friend. No ; all the
ties of friendship, all the ties of nature, are forever
broken, forever turned into devilish hate. Every
evil spirit, every reprobate insults me, curses me,
tortures me, seeks to make me suffer the more. I
must submit to all this, because during life I refused
to submit to the holy will of God. I could so easily
have been saved, and now I am lost, lost forever,
and that through my own fault ! Never shall I see
God, never shall I enjoy the delights of heaven,
never more shall I be released from these terrible
torments. It is now too late ! "

All this, and much more, will the worm of con
science say to the damned, stinging him with
reproaches so relentlessly that he will almost be
driven crazy with despair. In fact, the damned
will rave and rage as if they were possessed, and
will invoke curses on themselves. But all in vain ;
it is too late for repentance. This terrible remorse
will do nothing towards atoning for their sins, it
will only add to their anguish.

Consider this, obdurate sinner, who dost sin so
boldly, and even when thy conscience pricks thee,
turnest a deaf ear to its reproaches. Be assured
that one day thy own conscience will be thy tor
mentor, and will plague thee more pertinaciously
than the demons themselves. If thou dost desire to

The Worm that Dieth Not. 167

escape this never-ending misery, listen to the voice
of conscience now, follow its counsel when it bids
thee abstain from doing evil, and urges thee to do
that which is right

CHAPTER VIII.

ON ETERNITY.

IN the preceding pages some slight portrayal of
the torments of hell has been placed before the
reader ; now eternity is the subject that must occupy
our attention, one on which it is not easy to write
or speak. The torments of hell are all so horrible,
so appalling, that they are enough to make the
bravest man tremble. But the thought of eternity
is so awful that the serious consideration of it is
almost enough to deprive one of one's senses. For
in this world, however afflicted a man may be, he
has one sure source of solace, the knowledge that,
sooner or later, his misery will end.

It appertains to human nature to get weary of
everything after a time, even things that are agree
able to our nature and suited to our taste. If a
man were forced to sit all day long at table, he
would get a disgust of the viands before him. If
one were made to sleep day and night for a whole
week in the softest and most comfortable bed, how
long the time would seem to him. If the most ar
dent lover of the dance were compelled to continue
this favorite amusement day and night without rest,
1 68

On Eternity. 169

he would acquire a strong distaste for it. And if
this is the case with things that are congenial to
our nature and inclinations, what would it be in re
gard to those which are unpleasant and repugnant
to us ? If a small stone got into one's shoe, and if
as a penance one had to keep it there for a whole
week, this would seem almost intolerable. And if
a slight pain or inconvenience becomes terribly irk
some after a time, how can a serious illness, or real
discomfort, be borne continually without murmuring
and impatience ?

If it were possible that a wretched sinner could
be condemned to lie in a furnace, bound hand and
foot, for a whole year, would not the suffering de
prive him of reason ? No one could be so hard
hearted as not to feel the deepest compassion for
any one thus tormented.

Now look down into the abyss of hell, and there
thou wilt see thousands and thousands of these un
happy creatures in the lake of fire and torment.
Many of them have already spent twenty, a hundred,
a thousand, even five thousand years in this dread
ful state of suffering.

But what is before them ? Not five thousand
years more, not a hundred thousand, not a thousand
thousand of this terrible agony, they must endure it
forever and ever ; an eternity is before them, with
out comfort or solace, without grace or mercy, with
out merit or recompense, without the faintest hope

170 On Hell.

of deliverance. This is what renders the torment
of the damned so immeasurable ; this is what drives
them to fury and despair. What dost thou imagine
that eternity really is, or what its duration will be ?
Eternity is something that has no beginning and no
end. It is time which is always present and never
passes away. Thus the torments of the damned
will never end, never pass away. When a thousand
years have gone by, another thousand will commence,
and so on for evermore. None of the damned can
reckon how long they have been in hell, because
there is no succession of day and night, no division
of time, but continual and eternal night from the
first moment of their entrance into hell for ever
more. And if thou wouldst conceive some faint
idea of eternity, suppose the whole terrestrial globe
to be composed of millet seeds, and suppose that
every year a bird came, and picked out one of those
tiny seeds, what an infinite number of years must
elapse before the whole earth was eaten up in this
way. Nay, how many thousand years must pass
before one little hillock was consumed. It is im
possible to make any estimate of the number.

Thou mayst perhaps think that it would take all
eternity to destroy the earth by that slow process.
But believe me, it might be destroyed many times
over before eternity could end. For the earth must
at last come to an end, even if only once in a cen
tury one single grain was taken from the whole,

On Eternity. 171

but eternity cannot end, for nothing can be taken
from it.

How terrible is this thought ! It is indeed ap
palling when one attempts to realize it.

The damned would be joyful, they would give
God thanks, if they could hope, after millions and
millions of years of torment, to be at last released
from their misery.

But there is no hope at all of their final release
from the pains of hell. No one who thinks seriously
of this can fail to be awestruck and horrified. O
God, how terrible Thou art ! How great is Thy
severity ! How canst Thou, the Father of mercies,
see these unhappy creatures condemned to such
punishments forever and ever, how canst Thou hear
unmoved their despairing cries 1

All this teaches us how grievous every mortal sin
must be, since Thou, the all-merciful God, canst
sentence the sinner to eternal damnation for one
mortal sin. O Christian, I beseech thee, in the name
of all that is holy, do not sin so lightly, do not think
so little of mortal sin, see how dreadful is the chas
tisement inflicted upon the unfortunate sinners. It
may perhaps appear scarcely credible to thee that
God, whose mercies are infinite, could possibly in
flict upon one of His frail creatures a never-ending
punishment for one single mortal sin. Yet so it is ;
and it is even true that a man who has led a pious
life will, if before his death he should have the un-

172 On Hell.

speakable misfortune to commit a mortal sin, and
die impenitent, be consigned to eternal perdition.

The Psalmist could not help expressing his aston
ishment at this ; in fact he appears to think it hardly
possible. Listen to his words : " I thought upon
the days of old, and I had in my mind the eternal
years. And I meditated in the night with my own
heart, and I was exercised and I swept my spirit.
Will God then cast off forever ? or will He never
be more favorable again ? or will He cut off His
mercy forever, from generation to generation ? or
will God forget to show mercy ? or will He in His
anger shut up His mercies ? " (Ps. Ixxvi. 6-10.) In
another Psalm he answers these questions : " Man
shall not give to God his ransom, nor the price of
the redemption of his soul ; he shall labor forever,
and still live unto the end," that is to say he shall be
tormented forever, and yet live on (Ps. xlviii. 9, 10).

The reason wherefore the all-merciful God pun
ishes mortal sin with an eternal punishment, and
nevermore pardons it, is because the sinner, when he
is damned, will not awaken contrition and sorrow
within his heart, or ask forgiveness of God. For
if any one dies in mortal sin, he is so hardened in
it, that he will not desist from it to all eternity.
And because God has consigned him to perdition,
he conceives so intense a hatred against Him, that
he would injure Him in every way that he could.

Rather than humble himself before God, and

On Eternity. 173

implore His pardon, he would endure yet greater
tortures in hell. Therefore because the sinner will
not repent of his sins, nor ask pardon for his sins,
he remains eternally in a state of sin, and because
his sin is never expiated or repented of, the pun
ishment is likewise eternal.

For God does not cease to punish until the sinner
repents and bewails his sin and asks for forgiveness.

Hence it will be seen that God does no wrong to
the reprobate when He subjects him to everlasting
chastisement, for divine justice demands that if the
sin is eternal in its duration, the penalty of that sin
must likewise be eternal.

It may perhaps be surmised that the damned
grow accustomed to their torments, and at length
become insensitive and almost indifferent to them.

This is far from being the case. The damned
feel their torture to its full extent, and always in
the same degree. Each one of the miserable deni
zens of hell feels his sufferings now as acutely as
he did in the first hour of his damnation, and he
will continue to feel them no less keenly after thou
sands and thousands of years have elapsed.

Now because the damned know perfectly well
that they will never be released from hell, but must
remain there forever ; because they know that the
dreadful tortures they endure will never end ; be
cause they know that no created being will ever
compassionate them, but all will acknowledge the

174 On HelL

justice of their doom ; for this cause they begin to
despair, and to curse themselves and all that the
hand of God has created.

Their despair only augments their sufferings.
This we see from the example of our fellow crea
tures on earth, if they give way to despair. It is
impossible to do anything with a man who is in de
spair ; no one can help or console him, no one can
comfort him or bring him to reason. He looks like
a spectre ; he raves and rages like the very devil
himself ; he declares he will put an end to his life,
that he will drown himself or hang himself ; he de
stroys everything that comes in his way ; he curses
all men and all things. This the damned do in
their despair, and thereby they torture themselves
even more than the devils can torture them. They
shriek and howl, they curse and swear, they storm
and rage ; in fact, they behave just as if they were
fiends incarnate.

In their fury and spite they attack one another
with the fiercest animosity ; nay, they endeavor by
every possible means to strangle themselves in their
frantic despair.

Their efforts are, however, futile. All that they
accomplish is to increase their torment, and inflict
on themselves fresh pains.

Would that every obdurate sinner would lay this
to heart, and take heed, lest one day he become the
prey of this eternal despair.

On Eternity. 175

" It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the
living God," says St. Paul (Heb. x. 31). If we now
dread hell, we shall not have any reason to fear or
endure it in the next life. Every one has sufficient
grounds for dreading it. The just and holy should
fear hell, because they may yet fall into it. So long
as they remain on earth, they are surrounded by not
only exterior, but also interior, dangers. Outside of
them there is the world with its allurements, its
scandals and temptations, and human respect.
Within them dwell violent passions and a weak will.
Only a single mortal sin suffices to cause their con
demnation to the infernal abyss. How many are
now in hell, who for a time were remarkable for
their piety and virtue, but who gradually grew care
less in the service of God, and finally fell into mortal
sin and died without having become reconciled with
God. Even the great St. Teresa was in danger of
damnation, for God showed her the place destined
for her in hell, if she did not give up certain faults.
The greatest saints have shuddered and trembled at
the thought of the danger they were in of commit
ting mortal sin and of being condemned for it to
the endless torments of hell. St. Peter of Alcantara,
who performed such great penances, dreaded even
in his last moments the danger of falling into hell.
St. Augustine and St. Bernard were filled with terror
at the very thought of hell and of the danger they
were in of deserving it.

176 On Hell

The careless, the lukewarm Catholic should, above
all, dread hell, for he is continually walking on the
brink of the infernal abyss. He makes little of the
precepts of hearing Mass, of the prescribed abstinence
from flesh meat, he scruples not neglecting the
religious training of his children, he associates with
persons and frequents places that are to him an oc
casion of sin, he yields to impure thoughts, commits
sins of impurity without remorse, gives way to his
vindictive feelings against his neighbor, appropriates
to himself the goods of his neighbor, indulges to ex
cess in eating and drinking, neglects prayer and the
sacraments. Now is the time for him to be aroused
from his life of sin, now is the time for him to give
up sin and change his life, for if he defers doing so, it
may soon be too late. This may, indeed, be the last
warning that God gives him. Oh, if the damned could
come back to life, to what penances and austerities
would they not eagerly and cheerfully submit !

The prophet Isaias asks : " Which of you can
dwell with devouring fire ? " (Is. xxxiii. 14.) Canst
thou stand the fearful torments of hell for all eternity,
thou who art so fond of comfort and so sensitive
to the least pain ? Which of you has deserved to
dwell in hell ? Every one of us already deserved,
immediately after our first mortal sin, to be con
demned to that abyss of misery and woe ! It is
owing to the divine mercy that we have not been so
condemned. " Unless the Lord had been my helper,

On Eternity. 177

my soul had almost dwelt in hell " (Ps. xciii. 17). We
are certain of having deserved hell, but we are not
so certain of having been forgiven. " Man knoweth
not whether he be worthy of love or hatred "
(Eccles. ix. i). What a dreadful uncertainty ? How
much should it cause us to tremble !

Isaias asks again (xxxiii. 14) : " Which of you shall
dwell with everlasting burnings ? " The answer is :
All those sinners who do not give up sin, who do
not bewail and confess their sins and amend their
life, shall dwell with everlasting burnings !

Let us, dear reader, make every effort, strain every
nerve, undergo every suffering, make every sacrifice
in this life, that we may escape the horrible fate of
those who fall victims, through their own fault, to
the divine justice ! No pain is too great, no sacrifice
is too dear, when there is question of avoiding
eternal torments. Let us then say with St. Augus
tine : k- Lord, burn us here, cut and bruise us in
this life, provided Thou spare us in eternity 1 "

12

PART IV.

ON HEAVEN.
CHAPTER I.

ON THE NATURE OF HEAVEN.

WE must not, as some do, picture to ourselves
heaven as a purely spiritual realm. For heaven
is a definite place, where not only God is, and the
angels now are, but where Christ is also in His
sacred humanity, and Our Lady with her human
body. There, too, all the blessed will dwell with
their glorified bodies after the Last Judgment. If
heaven is a definite locality, it must accordingly be
a visible, not a spiritual kingdom ; for a place must
in its nature be to some extent conformable to
those who abide in it.

Besides, we know that after the Last Judgment
'he saints will behold heaven with their bodily eyes,
179

180 On Heaven.

and consequently it must be a visible kingdom.
We are ignorant of what the material structure of
heaven will be composed, we only know that it will
be something infinitely superior to and more costly
than the matter of which the other spheres, the sun,
the moon, and other heavenly bodies, are formed.

For since God has created heaven for Him
self and for His elect, He has made it so beau
tiful and so glorious that the blessed will never
tire of the contemplation of its splendors to all
eternity.

Yet, I repeat, it is not within the power of the
writer to describe, nor within that of the reader to
comprehend, what it is of which heaven is actually
composed. Something may perhaps be learned con
cerning this from what St. Teresa writes. Speak
ing of herself, she says : " The Blessed Mother oi
God gave me a jewel, and hung around my neck a
superb golden chain, to which a cross of priceless
value was attached. Both the gold and the precious
stones thus given to me are so unlike those which
we have here in this world that no comparison can
be instituted between them. They are beautiful
beyond anything that can be conceived, and the
matter whereof they are composed is beyond our
knowledge. For what we call gold and precious
stones beside them appear dark and lustreless as
charcoal."

From these words we may form some idea of the

On the Nature of Heaven. 181

beauty, the rarity, the costly nature of the stones
wherewith the walls of heaven are built. We
gather from them that the light of heaven is so
dazzling as not only to eclipse the sun and stars,
but to cause all earthly brightness to appear as
darkness. We have besides every reason to believe
that in the light of heaven all the colors of the
rainbow are seen to flash, giving it an indescribable
charm to the eyes of the blessed. Moreover, the
bodies of the redeemed are resplendent with light,
and the more saintly their life on earth has been,
the more brilliantly do they shine in heaven.
What must be the glory of that celestial firmament,
glittering with the radiance of many thousand stars 1
Nothing is more pleasing to the eye than light ;
how brilliant, how beautiful must the light of
heaven be since, compared with it, the sun's bright
rays are but darkness.

How the redeemed must delight in the contem
plation of this clear and dazzling brightness.

O my God, grant me grace that on earth I may
love the light and eschew the works of darkness, in
order that I may attain to the contemplation of the
eternal and perpetual light !

Concerning the size of heaven all we know is
that it is immeasurable, inconceivable, incompre
hensible.

A learned divine, speaking on this subject, says :
" If God were to make every grain of sand into a new

182 On Heaven.

world, all these innumerable spheres would not fill
the immensity of heaven." St. Bernard also says
that we are warranted in the belief that every one of
the saved will have a place and an inheritance
of no narrow limits assigned him in the celestial
country.

How immeasurably vast in extent must heaven
then be ! Well may the prophet Baruch exclaim :
" O Israel, how great is the house of God, and how
vast is the place of His possession 1 It is great and
hath no end ; it is high and immense " (Baruch iii.
24, 25).

We can readily believe this, for we have before
our eyes the boundless realms of space. But of the
nature of the infinite realms of heaven we know
nothing, and yet we can to some extent picture them
to our imagination. It would be against common
sense to think that these vast celestial domains are
empty and bare, that the great Artificer, to whom
the creation of worlds is a very little thing, would
leave them unbeautified and unadorned.

If princes and lords fill every space, and leave no
corner in their palaces or their grounds unembel-
lished and unadorned, shall we suppose that the
great King of heaven would permit His regal palace,
His celestial paradise, to be lacking in magnificence
and in beauty ? What would there be to delight
the senses of the saints if heaven were a large
empty space ? What enjoyment, except the beatific

On the Nature of Heaven. 183

vision of God, would there be for them, if they stood
all together in a barren plain, like sheep in a pen-
fold ? Are we not justified in believing that there
are splendid and spacious mansions in heaven con
structed of incorruptible materials ? Nay, more, a
learned expositor of Holy Scripture considers it
probable that by the wondrous skill and wisdom of
the great Creator, these fair palaces and dwellings
are of varied form and size, some being lower, others
higher, some more richly adorned than others.
Towering above all, and surpassing all in grandeur
and magnificence, the palace of the great King Jesus
Christ stands pre-eminent; and next in splendor
and dignity ranks the abode of our Sovereign Lady,
the Queen of heaven. Then come the twelve
palaces of the twelve apostles, which are so rich and
beautiful that heaven itself marvels at their magnifi
cence. Besides these are mansions and dwellings
innumerable which render the heavenly Jerusalem
indescribably imposing and attractive. These splen
did abodes were created when heaven itself was
made, and destined to be the dwellings of the re
deemed. The Church teaches us, in the office for
martyrs, that each one of the elect will have his own
place in the kingdom of heaven. Dabo sanctis meis
locum nominatum in regno Patris mei, dicit Dominus.
(In 2 noct. Antiph. I. de Com. pi. Martj.) " I will
give to My saints an appointed place in the kingdom
of My Father." And the Royal Psalmist says:

184 On Heaven.

" The saints shall rejoice in glory ; they shall be
joyful in their beds " (Ps. cxlix. 5).

We have also Christ's words : " Make unto you
friends of the mammon of iniquity ; that when you
shall fail, they may receive you into everlasting
dwellings ; " that is to say, spend what you have
over and above on works of charity and benev
olence, that these may prove as friends to you, who
will obtain for you admittance into the eternal and
celestial dwellings (Luke xvi. 9).

Again : " In My Father's house there are many
mansions." Hence it may be inferred that each
one of the redeemed has his separate abode in
heaven. For as a just and prudent father divides
his real and personal property amongst his chil
dren, assigning to each one his particular share,
so our heavenly Father apportions to each of
His elect a part of His celestial treasures, both
visible and invisible, giving to each one more
or less, according to the amount he deserves to
receive.

Who shall describe the majesty and glory of these
heavenly mansions? If the kings and princes
of this world build grand and costly palaces for
themselves, what must be the splendor and beauty
of the celestial city which the King of kings has
built for Himself and those who love Him and are
His friends ? Hear what St. John says concerning
this city: "An angel showed me the holy city

On the Nature of Heaven. 185

Jerusalem, having the glory of God. The light
thereof was like to a precious stone, as to the jasper
stone, even as crystal. The city itself was of pure
gold, like unto glass, and the foundations of the
wall of the city were adorned with all manner of
precious stones " (Apoc. xxi. u, 18, 19).

Speaking of the size of the city, the same apostle
writes : " The angel that spoke with me had a meas
ure of a reed of gold, to measure the city and the
gates thereof, and the wall. And the city lieth in a
four-square, and the length thereof is as great as the
breadth ; and he measured the city with the golden
reed for twelve thousand furlongs, and the height
and the breadth thereof are equal. And he meas
ured the wall thereof an hundred forty-four cubits,
the measure of a man, and used by the angel."

A furlong is two hundred and twenty yards, and
eight furlongs make a mile. It must be observed
that the angel did not measure the circumference of
the city, but only the length of the wall, which was
twelve thousand furlongs. When this is multiplied
by four, it gives forty-eight thousand furlongs as the
circumference of the city, that is equivalent to six
thousand miles. To people a city of this size many
thousand millions of inhabitants would be needed.

From the information given by St. John, who
tells us that the length, the breadth, and the height
of the city are equal, we form some idea of the im
posing height of this celestial structure. This city

1 86 On Heaven.

does not constitute the whole of the heavenly Jeru
salem, it is the special dwelling place of the most
high God, wherein the sacred humanity of Christ
abides, together with many companies of angels and
of the most eminent saints. For besides this august
city, there are others innumerable in the heavenly
plains, wherein the redeemed dwell in the society of
angels. The more good a saint has done on earth,
the grander is the residence assigned him in
heaven. These palaces and mansions are trans
parent as crystal and built of precious stones of the
costliest kind. And we may add on the authority
of a learned theologian, that the blessed hold inter
course with one another, and meet together to laud
and magnify the omnipotence of the Most High,
who prepared for them such glorious abodes, and
join in extolling His wisdom and His love.

Dost thou not, O my soul, feel an intense longing
to behold this heavenly city, and, what is more, to
dwell therein for evermore ? We esteem it a pleas
ure to visit a fine city, renowned for its architectural
and other attractions ; and many are the travellers
who journey all over the world to see foreign towns,
and feast their eyes on their beauty. What are
these cities of earth in comparison with the celestial
cities ? Could we but look into it for a few mo
ments only, what wondrous things we should be
hold ! We should assuredly exclaim, in the words
of King David : " How lovely are Thy tabernacles,

On the Nature of Heaven. 187

O Lord of hosts ! My soul longeth and f ainteth
for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh
have rejoiced in the living God. Blessed are they
that dwell in Thy house, O Lord ; they shall praise
thee forever and ever. For better is one day in Thy
courts above thousands ; I have chosen to be an
abject in the house of my God rather than to dwell
in the tabernacles of sinners " (Ps. Ixxxiii.).

If we may venture to speak of the interior of the
celestial realm, we may assume that the vast, im
measurable space of heaven does not only contain
these heavenly cities, but much more besides, all of
which enhances the delights of that blissful land.
For as kings and princes on earth have gardens and
pleasure grounds laid out beside their palaces,
where they amuse themselves in the summer season,
so, many theologians assert, there are heavenly par
adises, that afford increased delight to the blessed.
For not only the souls of the saved, but their glori
fied bodies also, will be conducted by the angels of
God into heaven after the Day of Judgment.

St. Augustine, St. Anselm, and many other saints
do not hesitate to maintain that there are in heaven
real trees, real fruits, and real flowers, indescribably
attractive and delightful to the sight, taste, smell,
and touch, different from anything we can imagine.

In the revelations of the saints mention is made
of the gardens in heaven, and the flowers that
blossom there ; and we know it is recorded in the

1 88 On Heaven.

legend of St. Dorothea, that she sent to Theophi-
ius by the hands of an angel a basket of flowers
culled in the gardens of the celestial paradise, of
such surpassing beauty that the sight of them led
him to become a Christian, and lay down his life
for the faith of Christ.

We also read in the life of St. Didacus, that on
coming to himself after a trance into which he fell
shortly before his death, he cried aloud : " O what
flowers there are in paradise ! what flowers there
are in paradise ! " Similar incidents are frequently
to be met with in the legends of the saints.

Consider how delightful it will be for the happy
ones who are saved to wander in the celestial gar
dens, and contemplate those fair flowers. How
pleasing the lovely blossoms are to the eye, how
delicious is the fragrance they exhale ! Of a truth,
if a man were to obtain possession of a single one
of these heavenly flowers, it would produce on him
the same effect as on Theophilus. He would be
spoiled for all the beauty of earth, and would strive
with his whole soul after the perfect beauty of
heaven.

Meditate often, therefore, upon the things of
heaven ; raise thy eyes and thy heart to the bright
firmament above, and awaken within thy heart by
this or other means a keen desire to behold the
mansions of the eternal Father, and to dwell in
them for evermore.

On the Nature of Heaven. 189

O God, who hast enriched the heavenly Jerusalem
with such beauty in order that we poor children of
earth might have a greater longing to behold it, I be
seech Thee, inflame my heart with an ardent affec
tion and longing for the celestial abode which Thou
hast prepared for us. For blessed are they, O
Lord, who dwell in Thy house ; they shall enjoy
consummate felicity for evermore, and for evermore
they will praise the power, the wisdom, the bounty
of our God. Would that I were worthy to be asso
ciated with that sinless company, to behold that fair
city, to become one of its happy denizens. Grant
me this grace, O God, I pray Thee ; let me not be
excluded from the number of Thine elect.

O blessed saints of God, you who dwell within the
courts of the heavenly Jerusalem, I humbly entreat
you to intercede for me, that in His infinite clem
ency the God of mercy may grant me so to live
that I may be found worthy to be admitted to your
blissful company.

Hear the prayers of Thy saints, O most
compassionate God, and through the merits of
Jesus Christ give me a share in that inheritance
which He purchased for us with His precious blood.
May the things of this world lose all value in my
eyes, and do Thou make my heart to glow with the
burning desire to behold Thee and the city that
Thou hast built, the heavenly Jerusalem. Amen.

CHAPTER II.

ON THE JOYS OF HEAVEN.

Now that we have meditated upon the heavenly
Jerusalem, the city of God, we will proceed to con
sider the happiness which the saints who dwell
therein enjoy, both in regard to body and soul. It
is true as yet they have not their bodies, as a general
rule, but at the Last Day they will all have them
again, and those bodies will then be so beauteous,
that nothing in the world can compare with them.
And this will principally be because every member
will be endowed with four qualities or attributes,
namely : beauty, impassibility, agility, and subtlety.
By reason of its beauty or glory the body of each
one of the elect will shine like a star, yet, as one
star differs from another in glory, so the saints will
shine with greater or less splendor, according as
their lives upon earth have been more or less holy.
In these glorified and radiant bodies the blessed will
be so inexpressibly beautiful, that if a mortal man
were now to behold one of these resplendent beings,
he would be dazzled by its brilliance and be ready
to expire for joy of heart.

190

On the Joys of Heaven. 191

In her revelations to St. Bridget, the Blessed
Mother of God once said : " The saints stand around
my Son like countless stars, whose glory is not to
be compared with any temporal light. Believe me,
if the saints could be seen shining with the glory they
now possess, no human eye could endure their light ;
all would turn away, dazzled and blinded."

Think what happiness it will be for thee, when
thy body shines like the sun at midday. Everything
that lives and moves rejoices in the light and warmth
of the sun: it gladdens all the face of nature. In
n'ke manner thy body will be a joy and delight to
thyself and all around thee in heaven, because of its
beauty and its glory.

The second attribute is impassibility, for the
glorified body is incapable of suffering. It will
never be sick or infirm, it will not grow old or un
sightly. It will never again be inconvenienced by
hunger or thirst, by heat or cold, by draught or
dampness. It can nevermore be burned by fire,
drowned in water, wounded by the sword or crushed
beneath a weight ; it will be immortal, unchangeable,
eternally endowed with perfect health and unfailing
strength. If any one on earth could purchase this
gift of impassibility, how gladly would he give all he
possessed to obtain it I

The third attribute is agility. The glorified body
will be able to traverse the greatest distance with the
speed of thought. In one moment it can come

192 On Heaven.

down from heaven to earth ; in one moment it can
pass from one end of the heavens to the other, with
out labor, without fatigue, without difficulty. We
often wish that we could fly like the birds, that we
could speed on our way like clouds on the wings
of the wind, that we could follow thought in its
rapid flight. If it were possible to purchase this
power, every one would part with all his worldly
wealth for it, if only to obtain it for one single
year.

How is it, then, that thou dost take so little trouble
to ensure for thyself the possession of this gift for
all eternity ?

The fourth attribute of the glorified body is sub
tlety, which consists in the faculty of penetrating all
matter, of passing in and out wheresoever it will.
No wall is so thick, no iron gate so massive, no
mountain so great as to form an obstacle to the
glorified body. As the sun's rays pass through glass,
so the bodies of the redeemed as they are in heaven,
penetrate all matter, however dense and solid it may
be. They can also make themselves visible or in
visible at will. What wouldst thou not give to be
come possessed of such a faculty ?

How great is Thy bounty, almighty God, towards
Thine elect ! Thou bestowest upon them precious
and sublime gifts, that no amount of this world's
riches can purchase. Who would not gladly spend
his life in Thy service and suffer afflictions in this

On the Joys of Heaven. 193

world in order to possess these inestimable gifts to
all eternity ?

Ask this poor frail body if it would not fain shine
as the light, be exempt from suffering, move with the
speed of thought, be unfettered as a spirit ? To own
such powers would indeed be a joy and a consola
tion unspeakable.

Wouldst thou not consent to have a hard pen
ance laid on thee for a whole year, if at the end
these attributes were bestowed on thee ? If so,
then do not esteem it a grievance to lead here below
a life of penance, in the hope that these fair gifts
may be thine during all eternity. See that here on
earth thou love the light, the light of good works ;
bear all pain and tribulation with patience, be
prompt and zealous in the service of God ; mortify
within thyself more and more all sensual desires,
and thou wilt assuredly be the happy possessor
hereafter of these four attributes of the glorified
body.

We will now turn our attention to the pleasure
and gratification which the blessed will experience
by means of these five senses ; and first of all we
will inquire what satisfaction they will find in their
sight. The power of sight will be so perfect that
nothing can be hid from their eyes. They will see
what is distant as distinctly as what is near, the
smallest object as plainly as the largest, the dark
will be to them as clear as the light Their vision

194 On Heaven.

will be so undimmed that they will be able to gaze
without flinching at the sun, even were its light a
hundredfold more dazzling. Their sight will be so
keen that no obstacle will offer a hindrance to it.
Now think what delight awaits thy sense of sight,
when thy eyes first rest upon the glories of heaven.
First they will behold the city itself, with its palaces
and mansions, whereof the splendor and majesty is
so great that the contemplation of these magnificent
structures would afford pleasurable employment for a
whole eternity.

In the second place, thou wilt gaze with delight
upon the fair flowers, the trees, the gardens, and all
the other beauteous sights that will arrest the eye in
heaven.

Thirdly, it will be an unspeakable pleasure to
thee to behold thyself and all the other saints arrayed
in beauty, glory, splendor, grace and majesty far
surpassing anything seen in this world.

Fourthly, thou wilt see the incomparable beauty
of the angels, for it is believed that those celestial
spirits will assume bodies of great loveliness formed
from the air, in order to render themselves visible
to the blessed. This opinion is held by St. Anselm.
And if the beauty of an angel immeasurably exceeds
all human beauty, wilt thou not rejoice in the con
templation of so many thousands of angelic beings,
all of surpassing loveliness, for all eternity ?

Fifthly, on nothing will thine eyes rest with such

On the Joys of Heaven. 195

keen delight as on the inexpressible beauty of Jesus
and Mary, whose glorified bodies are so irresistibly
charming, attractive, beautiful and majestic, that if
the damned were permitted to behold them, they
would no longer find hell intolerable.

Now consider what a fertile source of delight it
will be, to be continually and forever surrounded
by sights so enchanting and so sublime. Our natural
inclination leads us here below to take long journeys
for the sake of seeing some beauteous sight, to ex
pend large sums to obtain some beauteous object,
and even to imperil our souls in our eager search
after what is beautiful.

Since the love of the beautiful is so deeply rooted
in our nature, how strange that we do «iot yearn
for the beauty of heaven. Why do we not close
our eyes to the attractions of earth, that we may be
found worthy to open them upon the splendors of
heaven ?

From sight let us pass on to hearing.

It would be unwise were we to attempt to describe
the gratification it will be to the ear to hear the can
ticles of the angels, and the soft music of their harps.
The nine choirs of angels will sing the praise of
God, and the blessed will join them not only in
heart, for they will mingle their voices also in the
sweet harmony. Thus the powers of both soul and
body will be exercised, and the praises of God will
ascend in melodious hymns and celestial songs.

196 On Heaven.

For if we mortals are impelled by fervent love and
heartfelt joy to lift our voice in song, how much
more will the holy angels and blessed saints do so,
who are all aflame with the love of God, and filled
with joy unspeakable. Their hymns of praise will re
sound without ceasing through the courts of heaven.
In a prophetic spirit the elder Tobias says : " The
gates of Jerusalem shall be built of sapphire and of
emerald, and all the walls thereof round about with
precious stones, all its streets shall be paved with
white and clean stones, and alleluia shall be sung
in its streets " (Tob. xiii. 21, 22).

These words seem to indicate that the redeemed
will walk at their pleasure with one another in the
heavenly Jerusalem, their voices uniting in happy
alleluias.

In wondrous harmony the angels and saints will
praise and magnify their God. What happiness for
them, O my God, what sweetness, what joy ! If
sweet songs rejoice us here, and awaken elevated
feelings within our breast, the canticles of the angels
and saints will indeed cause us rapture and delight,
when we have the felicity to be admitted into their
blessed company.

My God and my all ! how great is the abundance
of the favors Thou hast prepared for them that
love Thee 1 My heart thirsts for the stream of
celestial joys. Truly blessed are they that dwell in
Thy house, O Lord ; they shall praise Thee forever

On the Joys of Heaven. 197

and ever. The saints shall rejoice and be glad in
this glory, the high praises of God shall be in their
mouth. Would that it were even now granted me
to join these citizens of heaven and with them to
extol Thy name forever ! When will the hour
come, that happy hour in which I shall be privileged
to behold the majesty of Thy house ? Until it
comes, I shall bear all the sufferings and tribulations
of this world with patience, and will brighten my
journey through this valley of tears by singing Thy
praise ; I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise
shall be ever in my mouth. Magnify the Lord with
me, ye angels and saints ; let us extol His name
evermore.

From the sense of hearing we will pass on to that
of smell. The delicious odors of paradise surpass
anything that man can imagine. The fairest lilies,
roses, violets, carnations, and other rare and lovely
flowers grow in the gardens of the heavenly paradise,
and their . fragrance is so delightful, that if a man
had but a petal of one of those flowers, he would be
overcome by the sweetness of the perfume. " Israel
[that is the company of the redeemed] shall spring
as the lily, and his smell shall be that of Libanus "
(Osee xiv. 6) .

Experience has abundantly shown that the bodies
of the saints whilst in their graves already emit a
fragrant smell ; how much more powerful will that
fragrance be when they are again raised to life and

198 On Heaven.

glorified. Above all the bodies of Christ and of
His Blessed Mother will exhale so sweet a perfume
that all heaven will be pervaded by it.

How lovely are Thy tabernacles, O Lord, wherein
we shall be invigorated by the aromatic odors that
environ us ! For if sweet odors refresh and revive
us here below, the odors of paradise will surely give
strength and refreshment to the blessed.

Even the sense of taste will be gratified in
heaven, not, it is true, by the consumption of ordi
nary food, but in a manner whereof we can as yet
form no conjecture. The blessed will taste a sweet
sustenance which will satisfy them, as we learn from
the words of the Royal Psalmist : " They shall be
inebriated with the plenty of Thy house, Thou
shalt make them drink of the torrent of Thy pleas
ure " (Ps. xxxv. 9).

The sense of touch will have its own peculiar
enjoyment. The more one has mortified himself
here on earth, the greater will be his bodily well-
being hereafter. St. Anselm says : " In the future
life the saints will experience a feeling of untold
comfort and ease. This pleasurable sensation will
pervade every member, producing a wondrous sense
of peace and contentment."

In fact, what can be wanting to the glorified body
in heaven ? It is in the enjoyment of perpet
ual health, perpetual rest, perpetual happiness, so
that in the superabundance of joy and satisfaction

On the Joys of Heaven. 199

it can scarce realize how enviable is its condi
tion.

Finally, the redeemed will take very great pleas
ure in beholding one another, in conversing with
one another, in kindly intercourse and friendly com
munication. Think how beautiful a sight it will be
to see hundreds of thousands of beings in all the
splendor of their glorified state. If on earth we
esteem it a pleasure to look upon a handsome face,
we can appreciate in some slight degree what it will
be in heaven, the lowliest of whose inhabitants is
possessed of a beauty far exceeding the personal
attractions of any mortal man.

Moreover, the redeemed are united together by
the bond of mutual charity, for they love one an
other more dearly than the most affectionate of
brothers and sisters. If they have never met on
earth, yet they know one another better than if they
had been brought up together. Each one will know
the incidents of his earthly career.

Each one will be able to see into the other's heart,
and know how great is the affection he feels for
him. Each one will rejoice in the other's glory as
much as if it were his own ; and the lowliest in the
kingdom of heaven exults as much in the glory
of the highest as the latter can possibly do. This
was explained to St. Augustine by St. John the
Baptist in a vision. " Know," he said to him, " that
on account of the inexpressible charity that the

200 On Heaven.

blessed have towards one another, that each takes
no less pleasure in the exaltation of another than if
it were his own. Nay, more, he who is greater
wishes that the lower were equal to him, and even
more honored than himself ; for in his triumph he,
too, would triumph.

" In like manner those who are in a lowly place
rejoice in the glory of those who are in the highest
place ; they do not envy them, far from it. They
would not desire the high position if the others had
it not ; they would rather give them a part of their
own glory, were this possible." Hence it may be
seen that the saints take pleasure in the splendor
wherewith their fellows are crowned, and entertain
for each and all of them a heartfelt affection. More
especially do they love one who has, by word or
example, helped them on their way to heaven ; to
such a one they know not how they can sufficiently
testify their gratitude.

Each one will also feel a particular affection for
the saint whom he chose as his patron upon
earth, and whom he honored with a special devo
tion ; and this affection will be reciprocated by the
object of it. Those who stood in this relation to
one another will meet together more often ; they
will converse on holy subjects and mutually relate
their experiences on earth, telling how marvellously
the providence of God saved them from eternal
perdition. In a word, the pleasures afforded to the

On the Joys of Heaven. 201

redeemed by this intercourse will be innumerable,
and they will do everything in their power to gratify
and show kindness to one another.

O God of all mercies ! who would not desire to
enter into this land of eternal peace, where are joys
beyond all that mortal man can conceive, joys so
many and so manifold, so wondrous and so sweet !
Sometimes the pleasures of this world have such a
fascination for a man, that he cannot renounce them,
even though he sees hell open before him. And yet
those pleasures are less than nothing in comparison
with the joys of heaven ; in fact, all the joys one
can picture to one's self or desire for one's self cannot
equal the least and the lowest of the joys that will
be ours to all eternity ! O my God, how unspeak
able will be the bliss of heaven ! May it be my
happy lot to share in that felicity 1

Urged by this desire, I will give Thee no rest,
every day I will implore Thee to take me to Thy
self. I will detach my heart from this world, I will
entirely renounce all earthly pleasures ; all my aspira
tions, all my affections shall be fixed upon the
heavenly treasures, and I will hold myself ready
every day to quit this earthly scene. The sooner
death comes to fetch me hence, the more welcome
will it be, for I shall leave this land of exile and
enter into my true country. God grant that so it
may be. Amen.

CHAPTER III.
THE JOYS OF HEAVEN (Continued).

WITH regard to the spiritual joys of the redeemed
in heaven, they are in such great abundance, that
in speaking of them one does not know where to
begin or where to end. Think of the spiritual con
solations granted to eminent servants of God in this
world. We know concerning some saints that their
life on earth was more that of angels than of men,
so frequently were they favored with ecstasies, vis
ions, interior lights, and divine consolations of all
kinds. And yet all these favors were but as a drop
out of the boundless ocean of celestial sweetness.
What rapture it will be for holy souls in heaven to
drink from the fountain-head, and draw freely from
the inexhaustible source of all felicity ! All the
powers of the mind, the understanding, the mem
ory, the will, the imagination, every thought,
every desire, the whole intellectual being, elevated
and perfected by God Himself, will be fully satis
fied, and will add to and heighten the joys of the
soul.

With the understanding the blessed will behold

202

On the Joys of Heaven. 203

all created things in the light of God, and thor
oughly penetrate the secrets of nature. It is re
corded of King Solomon that " God gave to Solo
mon wisdom and understanding exceeding much,
as the sand that is on the seashore. And the wis
dom of Solomon surpassed the wisdom of all the
Orientals and of the Egyptians, and he was wiser
than all men. He also spoke three thousand para
bles, and his poems were a thousand and five. And
he treated about trees from the cedar that is in
Lebanon unto the hyssop that cometh out of the
wall ; and he discoursed of beasts, and of fowls,
and of creeping things, and of fishes. And they
came from all nations to hear the wisdom of Solo
mon, and from all the kings of the earth, who heard
of his wisdom " (3 Kings iv. 29-34).

We have never heard of wisdom equal to this,
nor can we cease to wonder at the wide range and
astuteness of this great king's understanding. Yet
compared with the wisdom of the least of the saints
in heaven, it ranks no higher than does the knowledge
possessed by a child of three years old beside the
erudition and wisdom of the most learned of men.
For all the operations of nature, all the powers of
the universe are open and revealed to the least of
the saints in heaven. Nothing is hidden or myste
rious in his eyes. He knows all that the Holy
Trinity has accomplished from all eternity, in how
marvellous a manner the heavens and the earth were

2O4 On Heaven.

created out of nothing, how wisely all has been or
dered and maintained from the beginning to the end
of time. He knows how the Son of God was be
gotten of the Father before all ages ; he knows how
the Holy Spirit proceeds eternally from the Father
and the Son. He knows how Christ was born of
an earthly mother without violation of her virginity ;
he knows all that Our Lord did and suffered during
His whole life, and how each saint and servant of
God lived for God and labored in His service. All
that is mysterious and incomprehensible to us in
the Holy Scriptures, the mysteries of religion and
of nature, he understands without a moment's reflec
tion. Hadst thou been on earth but a simple, illit
erate peasant, on thy entrance into heaven thy eyes
would be opened, and thou wouldst see clearly and
understand all things perfectly. What joy, what
happiness this knowledge and clear insight will be
to thee I What grateful thanks thou wilt render to
God for it !

Secondly, in as far as their memory is concerned,
the blessed will also find fulness of joy in heaven,
for it will, like the understanding, be enlightened by
God ; and all the events of their past life will be as
fresh and as distinct to their remembrance as if
they beheld them inscribed on tablets before their
eyes. Then they perceive by what a marvellous
way God led them to their eternal goal, how merci
fully He pardoned their transgressions, how He

On the Joys of Heaven. 205

succored them in the hour of temptation, and how
He made all things work together for their good.
This retrospect will arouse in the heart of each one
the holiest gratitude towards God and oft-times they
will give expression to it thus : O my God, whom I
love above all things, how great are the gifts and
graces Thou hast bestowed upon me, how generous
Thou hast been towards me, how often Thou hast
rescued me from the danger of falling into sin, how
mercifully Thou hast preserved me from eternal
damnation, and how wonderfully Thou hast guided
me in the way of salvation ! How can I sufficiently
praise and magnify Thine infinite bounty ? How
can I sufficiently thank Thee and adore Thee for
the benefits Thou hast lavished on me ?

Thirdly, the will of each one of the blessed will
be crowned with felicity, and kindled with the love
of God and of the blessed in whose company he is.
The noblest pleasures a man can enjoy come from
his will. A man is happy when all succeeds with
him according to his wishes ; when he acquires and
possesses all that his heart can desire ; when he is
generally esteemed and praised by his fellow-men ;
when he loves, and is loved by the object of his
affections. This and much more besides is the
portion of the blessed, but in the highest degree
and in the greatest possible perfection. The love
of God for them, and their love of Him is so pro
found, that they are inflamed and consumed with

206 On Heaven.

divine charity, that their will resembles a live coal,
glowing with light and heat, until it is absorbed by
the fire of which it is a part. So it is with the
saints in heaven ; imbued with divine charity, they
burn and shine in the light of God, and reflect His
image more and more. St. John says : " We know that
when He shall appear we shall be like to Him, be
cause we shall see Him as He is " (i John iii. 2).
In the love of God and in union with Him they find
such ineffable delight that, inebriated by the sweet
ness of divine charity they lose themselves in Him.

There is no greater happiness upon earth than to
love and be loved, and the more tender, pure and
ardent this love is, the greater the joy and delight
it affords us. Now the love of heaven, the love of
the redeemed for God and for one another, is the
most tender, the most pure, the most ardent affec
tion, an affection infinite and boundless ; conse
quently it is a source of immense delight and happi
ness unspeakable. May the God of all grace make
us partakers of this love, and we shall then know
by experience that of which words fail to convey an
idea. No one will be privileged to partake in this
love, unless here below he lives in the love of God,
and dies in His friendship. Let us therefore strive
to increase within us this divine charity, that we
may be admitted hereafter to the full enjoyment of
His love.

The beatific vision of the divine countenance is a

On the Joys of Heaven. 207

joy above all joys, a delight far surpassing all the
celestial pleasures of which we have spoken. With
out this all other joys would lose their savor, they
would be changed to bitterness. On one occasion,
when the devil was speaking by the mouth of a per
son who was possessed, he said : " If the whole
heavens were a sheet of parchment, if the whole
ocean were ink, if every blade of grass were pen,
and every man on earth a scribe, it would not suffice
to describe the intense, immeasurable delight which
the vision of God affords to the blessed." And at
another time he said that if God would but vouch
safe to grant him the privilege of beholding His
divine countenance for a few moments, he would,
if it were possible, gladly bear in his own person
all the torments of hell until the Day of Judg
ment. This teaches us that if a man spent his
whole life in works of most severe penance, and
after his death were permitted only for one
instant to gaze on the face of God, he would
have received an ample recompense for all his
mortifications.

Now consider how transcendent must be the bliss
which the saints derive from the contemplation, the
enjoyment, the possession of the supreme God 1 If
to gaze on the divine countenance for one passing
moment is a joy beyond all that a life of pleasure
offers to the worldling, what rapture will it be to
gaze for evermore, with undimmed eyes, on His in-

208 On Heaven.

finite beauty, what rapture to call this supreme
Good one's own for all eternity !

God is a being in whom all that is most admir
able and desirable exists in the highest degree. In
Him is all that most attracts and fascinates us ;
clemency, beauty, justice, compassion, wisdom, maj
esty, every sweet and sublime attribute in its fullest
perfection. From God proceeds all grace, all that
we need for our spiritual and temporal welfare, all
the happiness, the joy, the repose, the consolation,
all the benefits and blessings which His creatures
enjoy in heaven and on earth. And when the re
deemed enter upon the contemplation of this infinite
Good, upon the possession of this source of all that
is to be loved and admired and longed for, their joy
will indeed be full. What unspeakable delight it
will afford them to understand the mystery of the
Incarnation, the mystery of the Holy Eucharist !
What unspeakable delight it will be to them to
comprehend how God can be invisible Himself, and
yet see everything ; how He can Himself be un
moved, and yet the source of all motion ; how He
can be Himself immutable, and yet the author of all
change. These and many other mysteries will be
made clear to the blessed in the light of God, and
this fount of knowledge will not be exhausted to all
eternity. The more they know God, the more will
their desire to know Him better increase, and of
this knowledge there will be no limit and no defect.

On the Joys of Heaven. 209

Thus they will ever hunger, and yet be perfectly
satisfied ; this rich treasury will ever be open to
them, and never will they exhaust all the wealth it
contains.

Meditate frequently on this subject, O reader, and
excite within thy soul an earnest desire to enjoy
God forever and ever.

O my God and my all ! Who art infinite beauty,
infinite sweetness, infinite bounty ! With all my
heart I long after Thee. As the hart pants for the
water-brooks, so my soul thirsts for Thee, the mighty
and living God ; when shall I come and appear be
fore Thy presence ? When will it be my happy lot
to behold Thee, to enjoy Thee forever ? I venture
to hope that this joy may be mine ; I humbly hope
and trust in Thy infinite goodness, for Thou dost
reject no one who comes to Thee with a contrite and
loving heart. -How rich, how happy, how joyful
shall I be when I shall have this supreme Good for
my own possession 1 I shall embrace Thee with
reverent affection, I shall lose myself in Thee, when
once I have Thee for my own. I am ready, I am
desirous, O my God, to do all that lies in my power,
to render myself worthy to be admitted into Thy
presence. I am prepared to suffer all that my weak
nature will enable me to bear. I am prepared to
withdraw from the world, to renounce all earthly
things in as far as the duties of my position permit.
I am prepared to labor as far as in me lies, for Thy
14

3io On Heaven.

service ; and this I will do in the hope of winning
Thee, the infinite and eternal Good, and beholding
for evermore Thy infinite beauty. Nay, even did I
know that I should be lost, I would still love Thee.
For I do not love Thee because I hope for eternal
salvation through Thee, but I love Thee because
Thou art perfect Beauty and infinite Goodness,
worthy to be the sole object of our affections and
aspirations.

Thus believing and thus hoping, I desire to live
and die, and I call the angels and saints to witness
to the truth of what I say.

And in attestation of the same I repeat with heart
and voice:

My God, I love Thee, not because

I hope for heaven thereby ;
Nor because they who love Thee not

Must burn eternally.

Not with the hope of gaining aught,

Not seeking a reward ;
But as Thyself hast loved me,

O ever-loving Lord.

CHAPTER IV.

ON THE NUMBER OF THE SAVED.

IN the three previous chapters it has been our
pleasurable task to point out how beauteous is the
celestial paradise, how great is the happiness en
joyed by the redeemed. And doubtless in the
heart of each one of our readers a fervent desire has
arisen to gain admission to the realms of eternal
light, and become a partaker of its joys. Perhaps
each one will feel sure that his hopes in this respect
will be fulfilled. It is, however, greatly to be feared
that many a one will come short of the goal, and
will be forever excluded from the kingdom of heaven,
as this chapter is intended to demonstrate. Let me,
however, beg all who peruse it, not to allow what is
said to discourage them, and render them pusillan
imous, but rather to let it increase in them the
spirit of humility and salutary fear, and stimulate
them to greater energy and diligence in working out
their salvation, if this appear to them less easy than
they were inclined to imagine. My only motive in
writing this chapter is to open the eyes of the reader,
and show him his danger. For were I not to do this
211

212 On Heaven.

he might go on blindly on the wrong road, and only
become aware that it is the road to perdition when
it is too late to retrace his steps, when the hand of
death draws the veil from his eyes. Thereupon I
consider that I shall do the wanderer a service if I
enlighten him as to the risk he is incurring, and
endeavor to direct his steps into the path to heaven.

Let me ask thee, O reader, what proportion
thinkest thou of all who live upon this earth will be
saved ? Half ? or a third part ? or perhaps a
quarter ? Alas, I fear, and not without good reason,
that the number will not be nearly so large. Jesus
Christ, who is eternal Truth, His holy apostles, and
the Fathers of the Church, all tell us that so it will be.

What does Christ say about the number of the
elect ? His words are these : " Many are called, but
few are chosen." He repeats these words when He
speaks of the guest who had not on a wedding gar
ment : " Bind his hands and his feet, and cast him
into the exterior darkness. For many are called, but
few chosen." Were nothing more to be found to this
intent in the whole of the Scriptures, this passage
could not fail to alarm us. But there are many
other similar ones, of which I will quote one or two.

In the Gospel of St. Matthew we read that Our
Lord said : " Enter ye in at the narrow gate, for
wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth
unto destruction, and many there are that go in
thereat. How narrow is the gate and strait is the

On the Number of the Saved. 213

way that leadeth unto life, and few there are that
find it " (Matt. vii. 13). Are not these words cal
culated to inspire us with anxiety and apprehension?
May not we be amongst those who go in at the
wide gate, who walk on the broad road that ends
in everlasting perdition ?

In order that thou mayst better appreciate the
meaning of Our Lord's words, and perceive more
clearly how few are the elect, observe that Christ
did not say that those were few in number who
walked in the path to heaven, but that there were
but few who found that narrow way. " How strait
is the gate that leadeth unto life, and few there are
that find it." It is as if the Saviour intended to
say : The path leading to heaven is so narrow and
so rough, it is so overgrown, so dark and difficult to
discern, that there are many who, their whole life
long, never find it. And those who do find it are
exposed constantly to the danger of deviating from
it, of mistaking their way and unwittingly wander
ing away from it, because it is so irregular and over
grown. This St. Jerome says, in his commentary on
the passage in question. Again, there are some who
when they are on the right road, hasten to leave
it, because it is so steep and toilsome. There are
also many who are enticed to leave the narrow way
by the wiles and deceits of the devil, and thus,
almost imperceptibly to themselves, are led down
wards to hell. From all that has been said we may

214 On Heaven.

gather that those are but few in number who find
the way to heaven, and yet fewer are those who
persevere in following it unto the end.

Now because Christ knew that these words of
His would be misinterpreted, and understood in a
false sense by both believers and unbelievers, on
another occasion He accentuated and emphasized
what He had already said concerning the small num
ber of the elect. For when one of the disciples
asked Him : " Lord, are they few that shall be
saved ? " He answered and said : " Strive to enter
by the narrow gate ; for many, I say unto you, shall
seek to enter and shall not be able " (Luke xiii. 24).
Listen to the words of the divine Teacher. He bids
us strive, take trouble, make use of all our powers
in order to enter unto the narrow gate. And what
is still more calculated to appal, He adds that many
shall seek to enter in and shall not be able.

If those who desire and endeavor to enter into
the kingdom of heaven fail to do so, what will be
come of those who lead a careless, perhaps an un
godly life, and manifest no zeal, no interest in what
concerns their eternal salvation ?

We have already heard Christ three times declare
to us that the number of the elect is small ; that in
proportion to the great mass of mankind only a few
will be saved. And because He was aware that
we should not lay this weighty truth to heart as we
ought, He reiterates it in yet more explicit language.

On the Number of the Saved. 215

After He had told a rich man who came to Him
to leave all his possessions and follow Him, and
the man had gone away sorrowful, He said, ad
dressing His disciples : " How hardly shall they
that have riches enter into the kingdom of God 1
And the disciples were astonished at His words.
But Jesus again answering saith: Children, how
hard it is for them that trust in riches to enter into
the kingdom of God. It is easier for a camel to
pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich
man to enter into the kingdom of God. Then the
disciples wondered the more, saying among them
selves, Who then can be saved ? And Jesus look
ing on them saith : With men it is impossible,
but not with God ; for all things are possible unto
God" (Markx. 23-27).

Truly these words, coming from the lips of our
divine Master, are enough to inspire us with pro
found alarm ; they are almost enough to cause us to
despond. For they expressly tell us that the work
of our salvation is a work of immense difficulty, an
almost miraculous achievement, and that it is well-
nigh impossible for poor humanity to enter into the
kingdom of heaven. It is in reality as much of a
miracle for a man to escape everlasting perdition
and to attain eternal felicity, as it would be for one
man single-handed to vanquish and put to flight a
whole army. For all the powers of hell are leagued
together with the wicked world against us ; all the

216 On Heaven.

powers of hell put their forces in array in order to
conquer and enslave every one of us mortals. And
with the awful powers of darkness the evil, crafty
world makes common cause, and the concupis
cences of the flesh do the same, for the purpose of
compassing our ruin.

Now, since there are so many adversaries who
assail us, adversaries so crafty, so strong, so fierce,
who can deem himself sure of victory ? It is little
short of a miracle if one escapes the clutches of
foes so numerous and so formidable. Who can
hope in his own strength to triumph over them ?
We must needs acknowledge that all who have over
come the evil enemy, the evil world, and their own
evil proclivities, have been strengthened by God with
His special assistance. Hence we see how toilsome
and laborious a work it is to win heaven ; and we
learn the truth of Our Lord's words, when He said :
" The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and
the violent bear it away " (Matt. xi. 12).

For the consolation and encouragement of the
Christian it must here be remarked that if the num
ber of his enemies is so appallingly great, the num
ber of his friends is still greater.

" Fear not, for there are more with us than with
them." So spoke the prophet Eliseus to his fright
ened servant. " And the Lord opened the eyes of
the servant and he saw ; and behold the mountain
was full of horses and of chariots of fire "(4 Kings

On the Number of the Saved. 2 1 7

vi. 1 6). We are not left to clo battle alone; our
holy guardian angel and all the blessed spirits are
on our side ; we may rely on the powerful protec
tion of the Mother of God, on the virtue of the
sacraments, the merits of Christ's Passion, the in
spiration of the Holy Spirit, the succor of almighty
God. By means of these mighty aids we shall
overcome, if we fight bravely and do not weakly
yield ourselves into captivity, as unhappily too
many do. For these timid, slothful, spiritless per
sons delude themselves with the false hope that,
after all, heaven is not hard to win. They think
and say to themselves : It is not so bad a case as
some would make out ; Christ did not suffer for us
for naught ; if it were not God's will that we should
be saved, He would not have created us for the en
joyment of heaven. These and similar words we
hear from the lips of the children of this world;
they live according to these notions, and succeed in
deceiving themselves and others.

That such persons are in error, and that they are
walking on the broad road that leads to destruction,
Holy Scripture leaves us no doubt.

The whole teaching of the Gospel is wholly at
variance with the principles they follow ; and those
who live a careless life and indulge their senses are
repeatedly warned that eternal death will be their
portion. Listen to the admonition Christ addresses
to the votaries of this world and the lovers of its

218 On Heaven.

luxuries : " Wo to you that are rich, for you have
your consolation. Wo to you that are filled, for
you shall hunger ; wo to you that now laugh, for
you shall mourn and weep. Wo to you when men
shall bless you," that is, when men of bad princi
ples, opposed to the maxims of religion, applaud
your words, your actions, your opinions. This
denunciation from Our Lord's lips may well fill us
with dismay.

What object in life have the great majority of
mankind? What is it that they strive after and
crave for ?

They desire to be rich, to be prosperous, to
live in luxury, and to be praised by their fellow-
men. Nobody considers this to be a sin. And yet
Our Lord declares that everlasting death will be the
doom of such persons, and He denounces them in
forcible language.

From these and similar passages, which abound
jn Holy Scripture, thou seest that God is more
Strict than thou dost imagine, and it is a more easy
matter to lose thy soul than thou perhaps thinkest.
Wherefore do not any longer live so heedlessly, but
work out thy salvation with fear and trembling, as
the Apostle exhorts thee. The saints did so at all
times, having the fear of God's judgments ever be
fore their eyes. The ungodly, on the contrary,
were ever wont to say, as many do at the present
day : God is merciful, He will not condemn us so

On the Number of the Saved. 219

lightly to eternal damnation. But remember what
is said in Holy Scripture : " Be not without fear
about sin forgiven, and add not sin to sin. And
say not, The mercy of the Lord is great, He will
have mercy on the multitude of my sins. For
mercy and wrath come quickly from Him, and His
wrath looketh upon sinners " (Ecclus. v. 5-7).

We also find St. Catharine of Sienna saying : " O
unhappy sinners, do not rely upon the greatness of
God's mercy ; believe me, the more you provoke the
anger of this merciful God by wilful sin, the deeper
you will be cast into the abyss of perdition."

It is undoubtedly true that we ought to place our
trust in God's mercy ; but what the nature of our
confidence should be, we are taught by St. Gregory.
He says : " Let him who does all that he can, rely
firmly upon the mercy of God. But for him who
does not do all that lies within his power to rely
upon the mercy of God would be simple presump
tion." To each and all of us the Apostle Peter says :
" Labor the more, that by good works you may make
your calling and election sure" (2 Pet. i. 10).

Several of the Fathers of the Church consider
that from the fact that at the time of the deluge only
eight persons were saved, at the destruction of So
dom and Gomorrha only four — namely, Lot, his wife
and his two daughters — escaped with their lives, and
of the six hundred thousand able men who departed
out of Egypt not more than two reached the Prom-

22 o On Heaven.

ised Land, the others all dying in the desert, it
may be concluded that the number of the elect
amongst Christians will be proportionately small.
This agrees with what St. John Chrysostom said on
one occasion when he was preaching in the city of
Antioch : " What think you, my hearers, how many
of the inhabitants of this city may perhaps be saved ?
What I am about to say is very terrible, yet I will
not conceal it from you. Out of this thickly popu
lated city with its thousands of inhabitants not a
hundred will be saved ; I even doubt whether there
will be as many as that. For what indifference we
see amongst the aged, what wickedness amongst the
young, what impiety amongst all classes of people."

Such words as these may well make us tremble.
We should hesitate to believe them, did they not
come from the lips of so great a saint and Father of
the Church. And if it is true that in the first five
centuries, when the zeal and devotion of Christians
was much more fervent than it is now, so small a
number attained everlasting salvation, what will it be
in our own day, when crime and vice prevail to so
fearful an extent ?

Since it is impossible for any one to deny, or even
to doubt, that the number of the elect is small in
proportion to that of the reprobate, I beseech thee,
O Christian reader, exert thyself to the utmost to
accomplish the work of thy salvation. Thou know-
est what an awful thing it is to be damned eternally.

On the Number of the Saved. 221

The plagues and torments of hell are so terrible that
words cannot be found to describe them. Consider
in time the eternity of those unspeakable tortures,
and take heed, lest thou too be cast into the abyss
of never-ending anguish.

How wouldst thou be able to endure torments so
immeasurable, so endless ? Wouldst thou not de
spond and despair, wouldst thou not storm and rage ?
Yet that would avail thee nothing ; it would only add
to thy sufferings and increase thy misery.

All this is most terrible, most awful, most appalling.
How is it that thou dost not think about it more often ?
How is it possible that thou canst live on so heed
lessly ? How is it possible that thou hast not more
fear of hell ? Dost thou perhaps think thyself secure
of heaven ? How is it that thou dost go with the muL
titude, as if thou didst not know that thou art in
great danger of perishing with the multitude ?

If thou wouldst be saved, follow the counsel of St.
Anselm, when he says : " If thou wouldst be certain
of being in the number of the elect, strive to be one
of the few, not of the many. And if thou wouldst
be quite sure of thy salvation, strive to be among
the fewest of the few ; that is to say : Do not follow
the great majority of mankind, but follow those who
enter upon the narrow way, who renounce the
world, who give themselves to prayer, and who
never relax their efforts by day or by night, that
they may attain everlasting felicity."

222 On Heaven.

CONCLUSION.

Let us, my dear reader, courageously and cheer
fully do all, undertake all, sacrifice all that we may
gain the ineffable happiness of heaven, for we never
can purchase heaven at too dear a price. Let us
not be disheartened at the difficulties on our road,
for, after all, it is not so difficult to merit heaven.
Were we to do for heaven half as much as people
do to earn a living, to acquire a little wealth, power
or fame, or to enjoy life, we would be sure of secur
ing a high place among the saints. All we have to
do to gain heaven is to keep the commandments of
God and of His Church, to bear our little crosses,
to discharge the obligations of our state of life, to
overcome temptation ; and although this is above
our natural strength, we nevertheless can count on
the grace of God, if we pray earnestly for it, and
with God's help everything will become compara
tively easy, for, as St. Paul says : "I can do all
things in Him who strengtheneth me " (Phil. iv. 13).
Earnest, persistent prayer will secure heaven to us.
I now, dear reader, address to you the words the
mother of the Machabees addressed to her youngest
son, a mere boy, when he was about to be tortured
to death, as his six brothers had been before him :
" My son, I beg thee to look up to heaven." Look
up to heaven every day, especially in time of trial
and temptation. Heaven is well worth every suffer-

On the Number of the Saved. 223

ing and every sacrifice and every combat required
of us, and even a thousand times more ! Life is
short ; its trials, its sufferings, its labors, its combats,
its crosses also are short and transitory ; but heaven
and its joys are inconceivable, satiating every desire
of the heart and never-ending ! " Our present
momentary and light tribulation worketh above
measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory "
(2 Cor. iv. 17).

May God in His mercy grant this happy end to
the writer of this book and all into whose hands it
may fall.

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9

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C/jS

/. /

BT 820 .M3713 1899 SMC

Martin,

/I The four last things
^47230862